March, 8th 2021 – Grade four learners under the new curriculum are set to begin their first assessment today, which is the end of the current Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams.
Under the Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC), the examinations that are to be administered, marked, and graded by teachers will contribute to 20 percent to their final score at the end of primary school.
The learners will sit similar assessments at Grades Five and Six, contributing to 60 percent of the final score.
Ten percent of the score will come from classroom assessments undertaken throughout the year while another 10 percent will come from KNEC assessment.
The Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) had sent the guidelines on how the school heads are to go about with the preparations of the assessment.
KNEC also advised the teachers to allow the students go on with the exam even if the time indicated has elapsed. The teachers will also be expected to adhere to the Covid-19 protocols.
KNEC has already uploaded the assessment tools on the schools Learning Continuity in Basic Education portal which will allow school heads to download and print the tasks.
For the tasks, teachers have been advised to use locally available materials as much as they can.
The Ministry of Education has also promised to release the remaining sh15 billion in the course of the week to help schools prepare for KCSE and KCPE assessments.
Cabinet Secretary Magoha said that the money is part of the 50 percent capitation released to schools at the beginning of every year. He said, “This represents 25 percent of the funds we have so far released to schools.”
In January, the government released sh19.2 billion capitation funds to all schools as sh14.6 billion meant for secondary schools and sh4.6 billion for primary schools including the special schools.
Meanwhile, Form Four Candidates taking French and Music will also begin their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations today.