Knec releases timetable for this year’s national exams

The Kenya National Examinations Council has released the timetable for this year’s national exams.

Candidates sitting the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams will begin their exams on October 28 with the Mathematics paper, and finish their last paper – Social studies and Religious Education – on October 31.

Form four candidates will officially begin their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams on November 4 and the last paper will be done on November 27.

PRACTICAL EXAMS

Practical exams in subjects such as agriculture, home science, woodwork and art and design – which take seven months to complete – started in January and are expected to be complete next month for assessment.

The students who take foreign languages, including French, German and Arabic, will have their oral examinations between October 21 and October 25.
The timetable from Knec includes strict rules and penalties for candidates involved in exam malpractices.

“A candidate who commits an examination irregularity in any paper will have the results for the whole subject cancelled. Such a candidate will not be entitled to a result and will be awarded result “Y” overall,” the guidelines signed by Knec chief executive officer Mercy Karogo noted.

IRREGULARITIES

Knec warns that should there be evidence of wide-spread irregularities in any centre, the results for the whole centre will be cancelled.

Anybody who gains access to and leaks the examination contents could face a penalty of a prison for a term not exceeding 10 years, or a fine not exceeding Sh2 million or both.

“Any person who wilfully and maliciously damages examination material will be in violation of Section 30 of the Knec Act and the penalty will be

imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or a fine not exceeding Sh5 million or both,” Knec warns.

FINES
Other offences outlined include impersonation of a candidate.

This can attract a prison sentence of up to two years and a fine not exceeding Sh2 million or both and shall be banned from taking an examination conducted by or on behalf of Knec for a period of three years. The guidelines apply to both the KCPE and KCSE candidates.

This year, Knec registered 1.78 million candidates for the examinations. Of the registered students, 1,089,671 are for KCPE while 698,935 will sit KCSE.

The tests will be administered in 10,304 examination centres. Ms Karogo noted that the agency will not allow any irregularities in exam registration.

Candidates were required to verify their registration between February 16 and 22 by sending their index numbers to 20076 and report any anomaly to the exam council.