The Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination is nationwide, with more than 960,000 candidates taking the exams.
The 2025 Candidates will begin the national assessment with oral papers for foreign and sign languages such as German, French, Arabic, and Kenyan Sign Language.
Foreign languages will be followed by practical examinations which will begin on October 22 and run through October 31.
According to examination timetable, KCSE candidates will sit for their written papers from Tuesday, November 4 to Friday, November 21, 2025.
Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) and Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) will follow KCSE and will be conducted concurrently from October 27 for three days until October 29. The KPSEA and KJSEA rehearsals scheduled for October 24.
Weeks earlier, KNEC Chief Executive Officer(CEO) David Njengere stated that 996,078 candidates had registered for KCSE this year.
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Njengere added that 1,130,669 learners registered the pioneers of the Competency-Based Education (CBE) system to sit for KJSEA, while 1,298,089 candidates registered to sit for KPSEA.
"In total, 3,424,836 candidates will undertake national examinations and assessments this year. The field administration began on October 17 and will end on November 21, 2025,” CEO stated.
He stated that to reduce exam malpractice activities, Ministry of Education has installed an additional 25 storage containers compaired to last years.
“Over the last two years, we have successfully addressed the challenge of early exposure to the exams. To further ease this process, KNEC has installed an additional 25 storage containers in sub-counties, bringing the total number to 642, up from 617 last year,” Njengere said.
Njengere assured the country that KNEC and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will deploy vetted teachers with high integrity will be deployed as invigilators and supervisors to also weed out malpractice.
To give the candidates a secure environment, the government deployed at least two officers at each KCSE examination centre.