Magoha's warning to headteachers ahead of KCPE exams

Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Mahoga on Tuesday morning warned headteachers against blocking class eight candidates from sitting for their national examinations.

Magoha, who witnessed the opening of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination in Mombasa, said every child should be allowed to sit for their papers.

"I want to take this opportunity to warn very few centre managers, who may attempt to block children from taking examinations for whatever reasons. You cannot stop a child to sit for an exam because they failed to pay Sh300,"  he said.

The CS reiterated that every child must be given access and if there are any other issues, they will be sorted out later.

At the same time, Magoha said in this year's KCPE examinations there were very few cases of fake papers being spread around.

"These  exams have been seen for the first time this morning as I had told the nation earlier. Its fidelity is unquestionable," Magoha said.

He said the good news is that this year,  they did not pick any fake examination papers prior to the starting date.

"We have not picked any fake examinations even though we had a lot of backroom plans by certain teachers in certain hotspots," he added.

Magoha said parents, teachers and students should not be worried about cheating because there will be 100 percent transition into the secondary school.

For the regions affected by the floods, Magoha said the government has 10 helicopters that will be used to facilitate delivery of the papers in good time.

"The downside of this year's examinations are the rains that have affected some regions. However, we have 10 helicopters that are at our disposal. No child will miss an examination," he said.