Gov’t abolishes mid-terms, prayers in third term

The Ministry of Education has now abolished mid-term breaks, prayers and visiting days during the third school term in a bid to contain cheating during the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations.

This has been announced by Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, who assured Kenyans the government is taking sufficient measures to guarantee credible national examinations from end of this year.

Matiang’i also sternly warned any student, teacher or parent caught engaging in exam cheating that they will be dealt with individually, in measures backed by teachers unions’ Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET).

The CS also announced changes in the school calendar that will now see the Second Term extended to 12th August and Third Term begin on 29th August and end on 29th October.

This year’s KCSE exams will be conducted from 7th to 30th November while KCPE will start on 1st to 3rd November, with new exams body KNEC boss Mercy Kagoro assuring no cheating will be reported.

In March 2016, it was announced that the number of students involved in exam irregularities increased by 70 per cent in the 2015 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).

According to Matiang’i, of those involved in the cases, majority of the centres were in Nairobi, Meru and Makueni with Isiolo being the only county that had no single case of irregularities.