AIC CHURCH, Kisumu, October 26th –Cabinet Secretary for Interior Security and National Coordination (CS) Kipchumba Murkomen has assured that the government has laid down adequate security measures to ensure that the ongoing Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education(KCSE), and Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) are safe and peaceful.
While wishing the candidates success in their exam papers, CS Murkomen said that the necessary support (logistics) will be provided through the National Government Administrative Officers (NGAO) in all the exam centres and warehouses.
“All the teething challenges during the period would be swiftly responded to by a well-coordinated NGAO team. The students are our future generations, and we must safeguard their well-being,” Murkomen remarked during a fundraiser in aid of the construction of AIC Arina Cathedral Church in Kisumu Central earlier today.
The two national exams are being administered by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC).
He also called on the area residents to continue working closely with the law enforcement officers to ensure that law and order are maintained for socioeconomic growth and development to be realised in the region.
CS Murkomen also commended the Nyanza Regional Security team for their sterling performance during the burial of the late former premier Raila Odinga at Kang’o Kajaramogi, in Nyamira-Bondo on Sunday, 19th October 2025.
The 2025 KCSE exams officially began on October 21st, with the oral and practical subjects, while the KJSEA exams are scheduled to commence on October 27th.
On the first day, French, German, and Arabic candidates underwent a 15-minute KCSE Orals with their counterparts sitting for practical papers in Music, Kenyan Sign Languages (Signing Skills), and Home Science (Planning Session). The rest of the exam papers will continue and end on November 21st, with a two-and-a-half-hour Physics Practical.
On the other hand, KJSEA exams will begin on October 2 and are scheduled to conclude on November 5th. The assessment is part of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) for Grade 9 students that serves as a transition to senior secondary school.
It’s comprised of short-structured questions, projects, multiple-choice questions, and essays.
KJSEA results contribute 60 percent, alongside School-Based Assessments (SBA) (20 percent), and the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) (20 percent), to determine the final placement score.
Exams Irregularities
According to KNEC’s 2025 timetable, instructions and guidelines issued to Centre Managers; they should ensure that the supervisors and invigilators deployed to their centres have not served in the same centre for three consecutive years.
“A supervisor is deployed for every two hundred (200) candidates and for every examination room, a maximum of 20 candidates must have an invigilator. At least two security officers should be placed in each examination centre,” the key instructions read in part, advising that where there are more than 250 candidates, the centre can request one additional security officer.
The penalty for examination irregularities cases will be applied in accordance with the KNEC Act No. 29 of 2012 Offences and Penalties, stated in Sections 27 to 40.
Vital highlights in these Sections state that: “A candidate who commits an examination irregularity in any paper will have the results for the whole subject cancelled, and will be awarded the result ‘Y ‘overall.”
It adds that if there is evidence of widespread irregularities in any examination centre, the examination results for the whole centre will be cancelled.
KNEC warns that any person who gains access to examination material and knowingly reveals the contents, whether orally or in writing, to an unauthorised party, whether a candidate or not, will be in violation of Section 27 of the Act.
“The penalty will be imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, or a fine not exceeding two million shillings or both, while those unregistered to take a KNEC examination but, with intent to impersonate, present or attempts to present himself to take the part of an enrolled candidate will be in violation of Section 31 of the Act,” the examining body cautions.
They shall be guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or a fine not exceeding two million shillings or both and shall be prohibited from taking an examination conducted by or on behalf of the Council for a period of three years.
The fundraising event was also graced by the Kisumu County Deputy Governor, Dr Matthew Owili, Nyanza Regional Commissioner, Flora Mworoa, legislators Prof Tom Ojienda (Kisumu Senator), Ruth Odinga (Kisumu Women Rep), Dr Joshua Oron (Kisumu Central), John Njuguna (Kiambaa MP), and Fred Ouda immediate former Kisumu Central MP, among other local leaders.
