President Uhuru Kenyatta together with members of his Cabinet, on Tuesday, October 29, decided to abandon a planned meeting after the start of this year's Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE).
Daily Nation reported on the same day that the CSs, among them James Macharia (Transport), would not be attending the planned meeting because they want to accord the ongoing exam the attention it deserves.
The planned meeting was reportedly intended to formulate policies but it is not clear when the meeting was scheduled to take place.
Speaking to journalists in Kigumo, Murang'a County, Macharia claimed that the exams were important and that his colleagues would help curb cheating.
"This is a serious exercise and to show the government commitment, we cancelled the Cabinet meeting to monitor the exams around the country.
“We are moulding the future leaders and that is why we are taking the whole process with the seriousness it deserves," the publication quoted Macharia.
He further disclosed that the CSs played a major role in motivating the pupils.
Among the CSs who are taking part in the exercise include, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha (Mombasa), Najib Balala of Tourism (Nairobi), Public Service CS Margaret Kobia (Meru), Interior CS Fred Matiang’i (Nakuru) while his ICT counterpart Joe Mucheru was in Nyeri.
“We want to ensure our examinations remains globally competitive so that any child who does the examination in Kenya and goes to another country, no one would doubt their credentials
"That is why, all of us, right from the president, we have said we will leave our offices to give you (education officials) support. The real work is yours,” added Kobia.
The KCPE exams kicked off on Tuesday, October 29 and are expected to end on Thursday, October 31. 1,088,986 candidates are writing the tests.
