Education Chief Administrative Secretary Zack Kinuthia has addressed the uncertainty surrounding the fate of Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) candidates whose schools have shut down.
This is after Kenya Private Schools Association (KPSA) CEO Peter Ndoro on January 1, 2021, announced that close to 339 private schools across the country had shut down owing to the economic adversities of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Candidates registered in the said schools were forced to join other institutions following the resumption of learning in October 2020.
This has since raised questions on the registration status of the candidates and their examination centres as their academic calendar nears its dusk.
KCPE exams are expected to run from March 22 to March 24, 2021. Rehearsals for the exams is slotted for March 19.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke on January 7, CAS Kinuthia stated that candidates from private schools who joined public schools upon resumption of learning would sit for the exams at their former institution.
"Those candidates who are in private schools which have closed down will sit for the exams where they are now studying. Those candidates are already placed in other private schools or public schools.
"We are calling upon the parents and the teacher to forward to us the names of the candidates and where they are now studying so that they can be registered there," CAS Kinuthia stated.
He further highlighted that a section of parents had moved candidates to public schools after failing to raise school fees.
"There are those private schools that are still operating but don't have students in them, maybe because the parents could not afford the fees and have since withdrawn their children.
"Those students will go back to do their examinations where they were registered," CAS Kinuthia instructed.
He stated that the Ministry of Education had taken into consideration the toll taken by the pandemic on the country's economic situation, resulting in the massive loss of jobs and reduced income.
CAS Kinuthia reiterated that school heads should present candidates' credentials to the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) for their registration.
