Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Chief Executive Officer Dr Nancy Macharia has moved to downplay widespread fears that the ongoing Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination has leaked.
Speaking in Mombasa when she led senior government officials in witnessing the opening of examination materials at the Kisauni DCC offices, Macharia said the examination materials have remained intact only that there were few isolated cases, where it got exposed after distribution.
“There has been exposure of the examination materials after picking from the containerized strong rooms that are under lock and key and on 24-hour guard. Some bad elements open them earlier than the stipulated time,” she said.
The TSC boss who was accompanied by Mombasa County Commissioner, Lucas Katee however said that overall, they have done better than in past instances and singled out Mombasa County for mention as one area where there has not been any case of examination malpractices.
She was however quick to state that those who have been found trying to tamper with the national examination have already been taken to court.
On teachers found to have had a hand in the examination infringement, Macharia said that disciplinary action will be taken against them.
“We cannot allow errant teachers to interfere with the integrity of our national examinations,” she said, adding that teachers have remained an important segment in the overall dispensation of the examination as without them, candidates could not be well prepared.
With the ambitious Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) being rolled out, Macharia said some 60,000 teachers will be re-tooled to teach at the junior secondary schools in April.
Some 229,000 teachers have already been trained on the new curriculum. Our teachers are ready for the CBC. In fact, we shall continue to offer them training. For those not employed by us, it is worth noting that they are also already being trained so that when we also absorb them, there will be no need to re-tool them, she added.
On teacher recruitment, Macharia said that TSC was optimistic that the government will be able to bring onboard some 5000 new teachers to help bridge the teacher deficit gap.
“This is an election year. We know there are limited resources but we remain hopeful that the government will also listen to us and ensure that our children have enough teachers,” she said.
The TSC boss said they have made further requests to have intern teachers absorbed to help balance the margin on low teacher numbers.