The Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) has allocated six choppers that will be used to airlift the KCSE exam in North Eastern region.
Addressing the press after opening the KCSE container at the Garissa county commission office Tuesday, the North Eastern Regional Commissioner John Otieno said the allocation was as a result of the heavy rains that have been pounding the region for the past four days.
Last week, Education CS Ezekiel Machogu in a statement to parliament said KNEC will deploy at least 15 helicopters to airlift exams in areas prone to floods.
Machogu further revealed that the government will spend Sh500 million to airlift exams papers to flood-prone areas and impose rigorous measures to curb cheating.
“The heavy and relentless rains that have been pounding the three counties of Mandera, Wajir and Garissa have completely destroyed the roads network cutting off a number of examination centres,” Otieno said.
“We have been working closely with KNEC to ensure that examination papers reach all the candidates on time. As a government we were prepared for this and we want to thank KNEC for providing the choppers,” he added.
The Regional Commissioner who was addressing security personnel manning the examination centers cautioned them against engaging in any malpractices that will compromise the national exercise.
“I want to reiterate here that all those tasked with securing the exams before, during and after the exams will be personally held responsible incase malpractices are detected,” Otieno reiterated.
“As security officers you understand your role, you should not be tempted in engaging any activities that will compromise the exams,” he noted.
He further assured those administering the national exam together with the candidates that security has been beefed up and they should not be scared of any threats.
A report this week revealed that government officials, school principals, teachers, and parents, even security personnel who were involved in ubiquitous cheating in the 2022 exams will not be involved in this year’s exams.
Kenya National Examination Council announced some unprecedented measures on Wednesday to curb cheating.
About 3.6 million candidates will sit the exams in 72,252 centres across the country.
