Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Fred Mating'i on Thursday caught the country by surprise after abruptly releasing results of the 2016 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam.
The announcement was made in a low-key event and came way before the expected day as has been the tradition in previous years where results are released after the Christmas holiday.
Details have now emerged on how the Ministry managed to keep the event out of the public limelight, so much so that even the media learnt of the release less than an hour before the event began.
First, the Ministry's Communication team waited until at around 10.30am on Thursday then sent out an email informing the media that the results would be released in an hour's time - at 11.30am.
“Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i is scheduled to release the 2016 KCPE Examination results today, December 1, 2016, at 11.30am,” read the message sent to the media.
Secondly, the Ministry resolved to change the venue for the announcement to avoid alerting the public especially the media if any preparations were seen being carried out at the traditional venue.
In previous years, the results were being announced in a well-prepared event at the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) offices. However, Thursday's event was held at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).
Thirdly, the examination announcement is usually a colourful event full of several speeches and entertainment. This time, things were different as no choir was involved in the ceremony, hence helped in guarding the information further.
When it came to speeches, they were limited to only Matiang'i, ICT CS Joe Mucheru, Joseph Nkaissery (Interior), the KNEC CEO and Teachers Service Commission Chairperson Nancy Macharia.
Lastly, other Education stakeholders were also kept in the dark which was clearly evident since at high table, was only KNEC council members, eight Ministry of Education officials, regional directors and the Director-General of Education Leah Rotich.
Speaking to the media, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General, Wilson Sossion also revealed that he was caught unaware, but thanked Matiang'i for successfully curbing exam leakage.
