The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has issued new guidelines to Education Sub-county Directors nationwide for overseeing the national examinations scheduled for October and November.
The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) will conduct the KPSEA, KILEA, and KCSE exams and assessments from October 22 to November 22, 2024.
Sub-county directors will be responsible for identifying, vetting, and nominating examination center managers, supervisors, and invigilators for the upcoming assessments. They must also ensure that all teachers are registered in the CP2 system, the online platform used by the council to manage national examination officials.
TSC has instructed county education heads to follow specific guidelines when recruiting teachers for administering the tests, aiming to ensure a smooth examination process.
The key directive is that sub-county directors must deploy only qualified, TSC-registered teachers who demonstrate exceptional integrity and are not easily compromised.
For the KCSE exams, TSC has directed that supervisors and invigilators must be secondary school teachers. According to the recruitment guidelines, the subject area a teacher specializes in will determine the exams they will be responsible for overseeing.
This year’s KCSE examinations will see new changes, with supervisors being rotated weekly. Each outgoing supervisor must prepare a brief handover note for the incoming supervisor. This approach aims to curb misconduct, including issues like the photocopying of examination papers.
Another recent development is the customization of examination papers to include pre-printed names, index numbers, and other personal details of candidates. According to KNEC CEO David Njengere, this new anti-cheating measure aims to enhance exam integrity and reduce malpractice. Personalized exam papers will target misconduct by individual candidates rather than affecting entire schools or examination centers.
Other guidelines outlined in the circular from TSC include a directive that supervisors and invigilators should not be assigned to centers where they have a vested interest. This measure is intended to combat examination malpractice, requiring supervisors, invigilators, and center managers to declare any personal connections or interests related to the examination center to which they are assigned.
Additionally, the commission has instructed examination center managers to verify the details and workstations of supervisors and invigilators posted at their centers using the CP2 system. They will also be required to take daily attendance to ensure that all assigned staff are present and performing their duties as expected.
In schools with learners taking Stage-Based Pathway exams under the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), teachers will invigilate their own students, with one invigilator per 10 learners. These invigilators will also be required to sign a declaration form, just like those at other centers. Notably, no supervisors or center managers will be assigned to KILEA Centers.
TSC has instructed that one supervisor be deployed for every 200 candidates. Additionally, no supervisors should be assigned to hosted centers.
On the other hand, one invigilator will be assigned for every 20 candidates. Sub-county directors must allocate invigilators to hosted centers according to the number of candidates at each location.
With the introduction of the CP2 system by KNEC, the administration of national examinations has been streamlined. Consequently, only supervisors and invigilators registered in the system will be deployed to manage the exams. This allows TSC to process their remuneration based on each teacher’s details and workstation.
The CP2 system also maintains a record of each supervisor’s and invigilator’s postings. According to the TSC guidelines, no individual should be deployed to a center where they have served in the last two consecutive years. The CP2 system will prevent such teachers from being assigned to those centers through its configurations.
TSC has advised sub-counties that encounter issues during recruitment to reach out to KNEC for assistance.
