Ministry of Education Confirms KCSE Rehearsals To Go On This Friday

exams boys
KCSE candidates in an examination hall.
Photo
SMG

The Ministry of Education has confirmed that the planned Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination rehearsal will go on tomorrow, October 17.

This is despite the day being declared a public holiday in honour of the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

The rehearsal will be conducted ahead of the 2025 KCSE exam which will kick off on Tuesday, October, 21.

A Ministry official, who confirmed the development, said that the exercise could not be postponed as it would interfere with the examination calendar.

 Candidates from St Anne's Girls High School, Lioki, in Kiambu County sit for KCSE papers on November 6, 2023.
Candidates from St Anne's Girls High School, Lioki, in Kiambu County sit for KCSE papers on November 6, 2023.
Photo
KNEC

"Normally, rehearsals are not interfered with and the officers on the ground have duly been briefed," the official told the Daily Nation.

Since October 17 was declared a holiday, there has been trepidation online from parents and teachers on whether the exercise would go on as scheduled.

Public Holiday

On Thursday morning, Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen, gazetted Friday as a public holiday following the demise of Raila Odinga on Wednesday morning after he suffered a heart attack in India.

Schools are expected to break for the December holiday from October 24, for a 10-week break until January 5, 2026.

Other than KCSE, the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) for Grade 6 students is scheduled to take place from October 27 to October 30

Under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), another exam, the Intermediate Level Education Assessment (KILEA), which targets learners with special needs at the intermediate level, will run from October 27 to October 31.
 
The Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) and the Kenya Pre-Vocational Level Education Assessment (KPLEA) will be conducted over a nine-day period, starting on October 27 and concluding on November 6. 
 
The theory exams for KCSE will begin on November 3 and end on November 21, running for three weeks (18 days).
KCSE Students
Students at Oloolaiser High School in Kajiado County get frisked as they enter the examination room on November 6, 2024.
Photo
Ministry of Education