ODM party leader Raila Odinga has thanked teachers for their selflessness ahead of KCPE and KCSE today.
"After a disrupted school calendar year, our students begin sitting their exams today," he said via social media on Monday.
"We wish them success and thank all their teachers for selflessly preparing them under the prevailing tough circumstances."
The 2020 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination begins today, ending a five-month delay.
Some 1,187,517 candidates will sit the exam, which will end on Wednesday. They rehearsed on Friday.
The initial plan to administer in November flopped due to the closure of learning institutions to stem the spread of coronavirus.
In effect, the candidates will write their examination under guidelines twice as strict to curb examination cheating and spread of the virus.
The candidates will, among other rules, be arranged to sit two metres apart in all directions.This will aid in achieving social distancing.
This year’s test will be the fifth to be administered under stringent rules since the introduction of measures to weed out rampant cheating that had undermined the integrity of the exam prior to 2016.
It will be the first time candidates will wear a mask while in the examination room.
Other guidelines include washing of hands or sanitising, body temperature checks and social distancing in the examination room.
