Special needs candidates decry negligence by KNEC in KCPE exams

Thika Primary School for the Blind Head Teacher Jotham Makhoha has complained that the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) is neglecting the needs of students with special needs who are sitting for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination.

Speaking to the press, Mr Makhoha criticized KNEC for not providing braille answer sheets for students sitting for the national examination that started Tuesday.

“KNEC has no excuse for not delivering answer sheets since the exam process is funded by the government,” he remarked.

The head teacher said he also requested for additional exam time for one of their students who uses the mouth to read and write but they have not received any response from KNEC, forcing the student to take the same time as other candidates.

Speaking on phone, Thika Sub-County director of education Ronald Mbugua said they have visited the KCPE candidates and they are aware of the particular case.

He said that in such a situation, the school has two options which is marking the answers on the KCPE question paper, or the school providing answer sheets.

Mr Makhoha however responded saying it should not be the case since students with special needs should be considered differently by the education board.

Mr Mbugua explained that handling the case would be difficult since only supervisor can open the examination papers to verify that the answer sheets have been included.

This is as a result of the strict measures that have been taken to ensure that there is no exam cheating by KNEC.

However, Mbugua expressed concern that the issue may have been overlooked during the packaging stage.

Reported by Ann Ngige