Principal Secretary of Basic Education Dr. Julius Bitok has warned school officials against denying learners the chance to take national exams because of money, despite the government claiming it has disbursed all the funds needed.
Speaking to the Kibra people on Monday, October 27, the day of the official launch of the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) and Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) examination, Dr. Bitok informed the government issued both the ordinary capitation funds as well as additional money to enable the free flow of examinations.
The government has disbursed all the funds that the schools needed to take in all the candidates. No student should be locked out of these exams on the grounds that they are poor,” said Bitok.
He added that all the schools had been paid their capitation, particularly those which were subjected to the recent school data verification exercise and therefore had no basis to complain otherwise.
We have sent capitation to all our schools, therefore there is no need any institution would claim that it has not been funded,” he emphasized.
Over the past few months, headteachers in the nation had raised fears that delayed pay would impact national exams. However, the Ministry of Education maintained that verification was crucial to eliminate ghost learners prior to releasing funds.
The ministry emerged to state that the audit uncovered more than 50,000 bogus secondary students and brought about stricter verification on school figures before releasing the funding.
National exams kicked off officially this week with KPSEA from October 27 to October 30, and Kenya Intermediate Level Education Assessment (KILEA) for special needs students running from October 27 to October 31.
The Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) and Kenya Pre-Vocational Level Education Assessment (KPLEA) will continue until November 6.
The Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams, meanwhile, commenced their second week on Monday.
Dr. Bitok invited teachers, invigilators, and examination officials to maintain professionalism throughout the exam period.
“All teachers and invigilators are invited to conduct the exams with absolute integrity and professionalism. We expect nothing but the best from those responsible for conducting KPSEA, KJSEA, and KCSE,” he said.
The PS further mentioned that the government had put in place systems for a seamless transition of learners following the conclusion of the exams.