Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang at a past event. [Photo/ nation.co.ke]
The government has said stringent measures have been put in place to ensure no malpractices are reported in this year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations.Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang envisioned a better performance from this year’s candidates noting that last year’s paradigm shift in National exams management was a lesson learned and a warning signal to the 615,773 candidates who have since prepared adequately for the exams with a clear conscience.“…Last year because of the type of deployment that all of us had, the candidates may not have been expecting that kind of environment. But this time I am very sure that our children are better prepared…We look forward to even getting better results from them because they know and they appreciate the kind of experience their brothers and sisters went through last year and the environment in which the examination was deployed last year,” said Kipsang.Addressing journalists at Uhuru na Kazi building in Mombasa where he had gone to witness the opening of the containers for the distribution of exam material on Sunday, Dr Kipsang said all systems were set and adequate security measures had been put in place.He said the government had put into consideration all kinds of challenges that may result including heavy downpour pounding parts of the country, noting that relevant authorities have been mobilised to deal with such cases.The PS said that despite the bad weather, no corner of the country will remain inaccessible as five helicopters were on standby to respond to emergencies and will be used to access affected areas which might be difficult to reach by road.Regarding security, he said the Ministry is collaborating with security officers from various departments including the National Police Service and Kenya Defense Force among other agencies to ensure smooth flow of the examination operations for the next 23 days."We are collaborating with KDF, Kenya Police, and other government agencies to ensure smooth operations. We have deployed helicopters to ensure the exam papers are dispatched on time," he said.The CS further reaffirmed that watertight measures have been put in place to put exam leakage and cheating at bay, adding that no loopholes for exam leakage have been left unchecked."Candidates will be seeing the papers for the first time this morning because we were able to put in elaborate systems to ensure the exams are adequately protected,” said Kipsang.He appealed to members of the public including political leaders to allow a conducive environment for the candidates to sit their exams without interference.