The eight schools which were closed on the troubled border of Kisumu-Kericho counties have been opened for national examinations.
The schools were affected by the recent clashes which saw seven people killed, several injured and houses torched.
Nyanza regional commissioner Flora Mworoa said the government has opened the schools for preparations for the KCPE and KPSEA exams.
Mworoa said the government has deployed enough security in the area with additional police officers to ensure examinations are conducted in a conducive environment.
“We want to assure parents and all stakeholders that those schools are now open, security officers deployed on the ground are still present and will be beefed up,” she said.
Candidates from various primary schools will sit for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA).
Besides KCPE and KPSEA, candidates across the country have been writing Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).
Mworoa pledged adequate security and warned those planning to sell fake examination papers to candidates that they would be arrested and charged.
To tighten the security of the examination process, she said the Ministry of Education has added another feature where morning and afternoon exam papers will be picked separately.
Mworoa said in the past the examination papers for the whole day were picked from the examinations' container and that is now being reversed.
“This measure will ensure that the examinations are done in the best way possible without any cases of irregularities,” she said.
In the region, there are 4,933 examination centres for KPSEA and KCPE and the centres will have two security officers each.
For KCSE, there are 1,761 centres with a similar deployment of security officers in each centre.
A spot check in various schools in Kisumu established that rehearsals for both KPSEA and KCPE went on well as candidates got ready to write their national examinations.
The examinations will mark the end of the 8-4-4 system of education in primary schools.
At Xaverian Primary School, the school head teacher George Polo said they presented all the candidates to the invigilators and supervisors.
“As a school, we are looking forward to meeting the target that we set at the beginning of the year. The school has a mean score target of 362,” he said.
The school has 298 candidates sitting for KPSEA and 268 candidates for KCPE.
Polo said the candidates are well prepared for the exams and hope to post good results.
At Golden Elites School, the school manager Joan Ochome said they are prepared and will be ending the 8-4-4 system in style but with God.
Ochome said the school has done national examinations for the last 20 years and the learners are confident of excellent results.
“We have a total of over 200 candidates for the two examinations and the government has sent nine officers to help in invigilation and supervision,” she said.
She noted that KPSEA is the best assessment ever noting that it considers learners individually.
In MM Shah primary and Junior secondary school, 369 candidates will write KPSEA with 371 will sit for KCPE exams.
The center manager Michael Oriedi said they are fully prepared for the examinations and will finish the 8-4-4 system with good results.
Oriedi said the teachers have prepared the children very well and confidently, and they are in good health.
“We are optimistic of a good performance. This is seen in learners on how they are prepared and confident. We are wishing them well and good health as well as safety in their residences,” he said.
He lauded the Ministry for the support accorded to the school.
“We are very grateful to the Teachers Service Commission for deploying enough teachers to the school,” he said.
At Arya Primary School, a total of 264 will sit for KCPE while 277 take KPSEA.
School head teacher Nehemiah Wanjira said their candidates were prepared and ready for the examination.
He noted that the teachers have prepared the candidates well and remain confident that the school will meet a targeted mean score of 345.
“We are confident that our candidates will post impressive results," Wanjira said.