By Amoto Ndiewo
The North Eastern Regional Commissioner James Kianda has once again assured residents that state agencies are working round the clock to ensure the exam season sails smoothly.
The regional administrator said the security organs including the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and border patrol units are and will continue to be involved in securing the examinations centres that are close to the volatile and porous border with Somalia.
He revealed that in such areas, due to poor roads and the centres being far apart, the State was forced to use choppers to deliver the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination in time.
“We are using choppers to far flung areas like Holugho, Galmagala, Liboi , Kulan , Garissa , eastern parts of Habaswein in Wajir and Arabia and Takaba in Mandera,” said Kianda who was speaking after opening exam containers at Garissa county commissioner’s compound office in Garissa town .
Kianda added that the same choppers will be deployed for Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams as deployed by Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) in liaison with the Interior Ministry.
“The decision was reached given the sustained terror attacks by suspected Al Shabaab who recently butchered an Omar Jillow chief who was coming back from Arabia. There is no cause for alarm as proper security measures have been put in place,” assured Kianda.
Stressing that every security officer in the region is directly involved in the exam securing process, Kianda wished best of luck to students at Garissa primary school where he assessed the examination process.
A total of 12,189 boys and 8,839 girls are sitting for the KCPE examination in 582 centres in North-Eastern region.
In addition 1,189 boys and 1,207 girls from refugee camps are sitting for the examinations.
