Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i has issued a new statement disclosing that his team is ready for this year's national exams, even as the current political activities threaten to interfere with the school calendar.
Speaking to members of the press on Monday morning, Dr Matiang'i stated that the national exam dates would not be interfered with but clarified that he would advise in case of any new development.
"IEBC has not communicated anything different from October 17. We are ready to conduct exams.
"We will wait for further directions from IEBC," stated Matiang'i.
Matiang'i also noted that they were ready for changes but revealed that President Uhuru Kenyatta had instructed him to ensure schools are safe and protected during the election period.
The country is set to go to the polls again on October 17 although members of the opposition have threatened to boycott the process if changes are not made by the election body.
Some 972, 837 candidates will sit the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) from October 31 while another 573,234 candidates will write the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam between November 3 and November 29.
A fortnight ago, National Super Alliance leader Raila Odinga stated that he wanted national examinations postponed for two weeks to allow for the repeat presidential election.
According to the opposition coalition’s presidential flagbearer, there was nothing wrong in adjusting the exam timetable to enable “an important national exercise like an election” to be conducted.
He said pushing the exam dates forward would not “make the students die”.
