The Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exams have kicked off smoothly in the North Eastern Region with the government deploying six choppers to distribute exam papers to schools.
In the past, the region has experienced transport challenges after some parts experienced heavy rainfall.
However, the situation has this time been different with everything going smoothly.
North Eastern regional director for Education Adan Roble said the government has deployed the requisite resources to ensure the exams progress well.
The six choppers, he said, have been distributed in the three counties: two in Garissa, two in Wajir and two in Mandera.
“Security has been up in areas, especially along the borders and our candidates, invigilators and supervisors have no reason to worry," he said.
He spoke to the press at the county commissioners office after overseeing the distribution of the exams to different schools,
He disclosed that there were 61 distribution centres,18 in Garissa,22 in Wajir and 21 in Mandera.
Some of the areas that are far from the main distribution centres include Galmagala in Garissa, Diff and Khorof Harar in Wajir and Kotulo and Arabia in Mandera.
This year, 22,244 students in the North Eastern are sitting for the KCSE examination out of which 16,919 are from public schools and 5,325 from private schools.
Garissa County Commissioner Mohamed Mwabudzo said that the government has made necessary security measures during the examination period and that an incident is expected.
“We have made sure that we have enough security personnel and we have put firm measures to ensure that the routes leading to the examination centres are well secured,” he said.
Mwabuzdo warned anyone intending to engage in any form of exam malpractice that stern action would be taken against them.
Over 900,000 students are expected to sit KCSE exams.
The exam started on October 22, where the candidates took their oral and practical exams for the elective subjects.
On Monday, the candidates wrote the English Functional Skills paper during the morning hours, while Chemistry Paper 1 will be administered in the afternoon.
Mathematics Paper 1 will be done on Tuesday morning, and later on in the afternoon, the candidates will write the English comprehension paper.
On Wednesday, the students will sit for Chemistry Paper 2 and English Paper 3 during the morning and afternoon hours respectively.
Kiswahili Lugha (Paper 2) and Kiswahili Insha (Paper 1) will be done on Thursday.
Students will on Friday tackle Chemistry practicals being Paper 3.