A 59-year-old granny and five murder suspects are among thousands of candidates due to sit their Kenya Certificate of Primary School Examination in Kisii.
By Friday, candidates in most schools in the region, among them Kisii Prisons, were putting the final touches on their preparations for the examinations.
Kisii County has upward of 113,000 candidates registered for this year's examinations.
At Imperial Academy, where the Star visited, school proprietor Charles Mochama said the candidate and teachers are upbeat.
They had been prepared well by the teachers and are looking forward to passing the exam.
"It has been a mixed bag of apprehension and fortunes since the syllabus changed especially for the grade six learner," he added.
He however said they have since moved forward and that most learners are happy with CBC.
The Proprietor has set up more than 20 classes to house Junior Secondary classes.
There were similar preparations at King David Liberty Academy in Mwembe, Gekomu, Kari and Kisii Primary schools.
The headteachers exuded confidence saying they anticipate good performance for both sets of candidates
At King David, school director Sibia Kerubo asked parents not to overburden the candidates with chores as they inch close to the main exams.
"There is often a tendency by some parents to overwhelm them with too much work robbing them of the much previous time needed for revision. This should be stopped for a while," she told journalists.
At AIC Grace Academy in downtown Kisii, teachers said preparations for the candidates had been intense and thorough.
At Kisii Prisons, at least 20 candidates registered for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Examinations.
Esther Moraa, 59, said idleness pushed her to 'advance' her studies and hopes to excel against all odds.
Moraa has been at the institution for the last five years after she was convicted.
"I had stopped in class five before I came here. I only saw that learning was taking place here and decided to try my luck. I am hoping to be somewhere when I finally walk out of this place," she said.
She plans to do driving or mechanics if she passes the examination, she said.
This determination has shown that there is no age barrier to studies, she said.
"All of us have the potential to read books and acquire knowledge at any stage of life, "she told journalists.
The robbery with violence candidates said they wasted opportunity in crime but the prison has given them a new lease on life.
Prisons boss Oliver Rapando said many initial human resources problems plaguing learning in prisons have been resolved.
" We now have the teachers most of them are volunteers, some are wardens, others are teachers convicted but now who help too," said Rapando.