Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang has said no police officer will be allowed in schools when learners sit for their Grade 6 and 9 assessments.
Belio said police officers will only collect and deliver the examination papers.
"Police officers will not be allowed in examination centres during CBC assessments for Grades 6 and 9," the PS said.
The PS spoke on Thursday when he attended the inaugural Annual Symposium on Competency-Based Assessment.
He said as Grade 6 learners sit for KPSEA summative test, they usually have 60 per cent of their marks from KPSEA formative tests done in Grades 4 and 5.
"The 60 per cent was between the learner and the teacher. So why should we be so worried that we must get somebody else to support us in that assessment?" he posed.
"As we move forward from Grade 6 we shall allow the teacher to take the lead in their progress and work."
He said the teachers have already been administering assessments to learners from Grade 4 accumulatively.
"It is a continuation of the school-based assessment so the people who have been engaged in that assessment have only been the teacher and the pupil. So we shall leave the teacher and the learner to continue what they have been doing," he said.
"At Grade 12, because of the stake we still place there we shall continue having police officers, but in assessments, we shall run away from that."
Belio said it is important to allow the learners to be children and freely act as so.
Further, Belio noted that the ministry will avail 16,000 new classrooms to accommodate the first cohort of Grade 9 learners in 2025.
Belio said the classes will be ready by January 2025 when schools will enrol Grade 9 learners.
“By the time our schools open in January we shall have availed 16,000 classrooms to accommodate Grade 9 learners. As government this is a responsibility we shall ensure is done,” Belio said.
The PS said it is key to have learners in a conducive environment.
Additionally, he said the government is committed to availing human resources to ensure quality learning.
“As we go into the next financial year we shall be recruiting 20,000 teachers which will go a long way in supporting us in implementing junior school curriculum,” Belio said.
