The 2024 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) kicked off on the 22nd of October with over 900,000 students sitting for the exam.
The candidates sat for their oral and practical exams for the elective subjects with French (oral), Arabic (oral), and Music kicking off the first day.
On Monday, the candidates will write their English Functional Skills paper during the morning hours, while Chemistry Paper 1 was tackled in the afternoon.
Mathematics Paper 1 will be done on Tuesday morning, and later on in the afternoon, the candidates will write the English comprehension paper.
On Wednesday, the students will sit for Chemistry Paper 2 and English Paper 3 during the morning and afternoon hours respectively.
Changes in Timetable
The 2024 KCSE candidates will have a 2 1/2 hour break between each paper. Between 10:30 am and 2:00 pm, the candidates will enjoy a break before settling down for the second paper of the day.
The second exam will therefore stretch into the evening hours.
Unlike timetables in the past, the candidates had a 30-minute break between exams. The second exam began at 11 AM and ended at 1.30 or 2 PM.
Curbing Cheating Malpractice
This year, the 2024 KCSE answer sheets have been customized to treat exam cheating as a personal responsibility. The school or examination center will no longer be penalized in case of a cheating incident(s) and candidates will carry their own cross.
Their names, indexes, and personal details are pre-printed on the answer papers. Any malpractice will therefore be held as a single case, per student. An individual case will not lead to the cancellation or penalization of an entire center.
Looking up North
The government has allocated 6 helicopters to deliver the KCSE exams to the remote North Eastern part of Kenya which is adversely affected by insecurity and drought.
The North Eastern Director of Education has stated that two helicopters have been assigned per county: Garissa, Wajir, and Mandera.
He added that security has been beefed up at exam centers to ensure no disruption whatsoever for the candidates.
