Schools will this week close for the April holiday to give room for administration of the KCPE and KCSE examinations.
Heads who spoke to the Star said that most schools are expected to begin their end-of-term examinations Monday. They will close on March 19.
According to the Education ministry calendar, learners in Pre Primary 1 and 2; Grades 1, 2 and 3; Classes 5, 6 and 7; and Form 1, 2, and 3 will proceed for a seven-week holiday.
Schools will reopen on May 10 for the third term of 2020 that was lost following the 10-month closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This will not be the case for Grade 4 learners whose stay at home will run for three months as they await the commencement of the 2021 school calendar in July when they transit to Grade 5.
This is because Grade4 learners opened earlier—in October—together with candidates in Class 8 and Form 4.
During the April holiday, the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development is to conduct training for teachers to handle the pioneer class of the new curriculum.
Already, examination papers for the 1.9 million candidates are secured in the government’s safety containers. KCPE exams begin on March 22 and end on March 24 for 1,187,517 candidates.
KCSE candidates will have their rehearsals on March 25 before sitting the exam from March 26 to April 21. Some 751,150 candidates are to take the test.
Details from Kenya National Examination Council indicate the process of securing the tests in safe storage containers is ongoing.
In this year's examinations, the council has secured 479 containers at the subcounty headquarters where the examination papers will be housed.
According to Knec, 286,901 field officers— supervisors and invigilators —will be contracted for exam administration.
The containers will have a double locking system and the subcounty directors of education and the deputy county commissioners will be the only ones authorised to open and close them.
School heads are warning of possible hitches in the running of the examinations as funds are depleted.
The Education ministry had in January released half of the capitation funds — Sh14.6 billion to fund secondary schools and Sh4.6 billion for primary institutions— earmarked for the free primary and day secondary education programmes.