2020 KCPE and KCSE candidates will sit for the national exams in April 2021, the Ministry of Education has said.
On Thursday, Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha said this will happen if learning institutions are reopened in September this year as planned.
Prof. Magoha while appearing before the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Covid-19, however, noted that reopening of schools in September could be impossible due to the growing number of Covid-19 infections in the country.
“We are looking at the calendar at what time we can open schools and do exams if we opened in September we might do exams in April, beyond that it won’t be feasible to do the exams,” said Magoha.
“Although we intended to open in September, as of now I can’t say if that will be possible. At this stage, our numbers are going up, and we might have a peak in September or October and we will decide if we would want to open our schools.”
If the exams are not done by April 2021, “then we must be prepared for what I don’t want to say at the moment,” Magoha added.
The youth need education,…
The youth need education, passing the exam is not a requirement. There is need for creativity, we cannot hold the lives of our youth waiting for an all clear signal on the virus. You can hold the exams in 2021, 2022, or even later; but we need academic institutions fully functionally, understanding there is a pandemic. Locking them up will have similar (or worse) effects to the August 1982 shutdown of the Universities.