The heavy rains pounding the county may be the only hitch to KCPE examinations that start today, a Kisumu official has said.
Kisumu County quality assurance and standards officer Julius Odongo said that flood-prone areas of Nyando, Muhoroni and parts of Seme sub-county may receive exams later than scheduled if heavy rains are experienced.
These delays, he said, may affect the starting time in affected centres, hence affecting stoppage time eventually.
“The rains being experienced across the county may be the only challenge but we do not expect this to be a major threat to the examination process,” he said.
He, however, added that the two-hour period between the time the papers are dispatched from distribution points and examination centres is expected to alleviate such delays.
“The examination centres are not very far away from the points of dispatch; we therefore do not anticipate much challenge in terms of delay,” he affirmed.
He said the supervisors and security personnel who will oversee the three-day examination process have been briefed effectively.
He added they had cautioned the candidates against cheating, adding that such cases have been low in the county.
There are 780 examination centres across the county with 21,477 candidates.
The county, he said has been performing well and is expected to produce some of the best students nationally.
The officer has however faulted the 8-4-4 system as being too academic and called on the government to fast-track overhaul.
He said the system has resulted in a drop in quality of education, a matter employers have over the past years decried as costly to them as they have to spend money on training half-baked graduates.