By Roy Hezron
The current education adviser Dr. David Njengere Kabita has been appointed as the new Kenya National Examination Council’s (KNEC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with effect from July 1, 2021 for the next five years.
The appointment has officially been confirmed by the Council’s Chairperson, Dr. John Onsati in an internal memo signed by him to all staff dated today June 9, 2021 a copy of which Education News has obtained.
“The Council is pleased to announce that it has appointed Dr. David Njengere Kabita to the position of Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya National Examination Council with effect from July 1, 2021,” said Dr. Onsati in the Memo.
Dr. Njengere, who currently was serving as Prof. George Magoha’s adviser in the Ministry of Education is taking over from Dr. Mercy Karogo who has been holding the position in acting capacity since 2016, and is expected to be at helm of the council’s leadership as it steers towards reforms of aligning it to the new Competency-Based Curriculum Assessments.
“The Council wishes to congratulate Dr. Njengere for the appointment and urges all staff to offer him full support as he joins the Council at a time when KNEC seeks to step up its service to the next level, more particularly in administering assessments under the Competency Based Curriculum,” added Dr. Onsati in the memo.
Dr. Njengere, who holds a PhD in Education and a specialist in curriculum design and assessment, is bringing to the council an experience of over 30 years as educationist the time when the council is currently struggling to curb the new emerged exam cheating malpractices.
The new cheating tricks that have been employed include some of the examination officials opening papers during the morning hours of 6:30 am to 8:00 am before the starting time which was a great challenge that Dr. Karogo faced especially during the 2020 KCSE.
Dr. Karogo was appointed in 2016 by the then KNEC Chairman Prof. George Magoha during the reign of Dr. Fred Matiang’i as the Education Cabinet Secretary to restore the credibility of the examinations, following Joseph Kivilu’s dismissal over widespread cheating in the 2015 KCSE exam.
She previously served as senior deputy director and head of the Curriculum and Research Services department at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).
She holds a PhD in Business Administration and Management from Dedan Kimathi University, Masters of Science, Entrepreneurship degree from Jomo-Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) and a Bachelor of Education degree from University of Nairobi.
Under her leadership as CEO, Karogo oversaw elimination of then rampant examination malpractices that included leakages since 2016 under Dr. Matiang’i and the current CS Prof. Magoha.
Dr. Karogo faced another challenge of administering the 2020 examination under extra ordinary circumstances due to disruption school calendar due to long closure witnessed from March last year because of Covid-19 outbreak.
“Dr. Njengere will take over from acting CEO, Dr. Mercy Karogo, who has offered exemplary service to the Council for the last five years, helping the Council to achieve its transformative agenda through critical reforms that have ensured the restoration of credibility and integrity in the national examination in Kenya,” stated Dr. Onsati the memo.
He added that “The Council extends its sincere appreciation to Dr. Karogo for her service, leadership and tireless efforts at the helm and wishes her well in all her future endeavors.”
The new CEO is now tasked to oversee the next two sets of national examinations in March-April 2021 as the government rush to stabilize the academic calendar of January-November which is expected to kick off in January 2023 following the effects of Covid-19 which lead to a 9 month school closure from March 2020.
The appointment of the Council’s new CEO has come when the outgoing CEO Dr. Karogo had issued a raft of new directives for the registration of the 2021 KCPE and KCSE examinations candidates.
In a circular issued to schools on June 3, 2021 head teachers are required to register Class 7 and Form 3 candidates where they have been learning, an exercise which commenced on June 2, 2021 and is scheduled to end on July 31, 2021.
KNEC is racing against time to rectify the school calendar that was disrupted upon the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic which leads to long school closure from March 2021.
For institutions of learning to go back to the normal school calendar by 2023, KNEC has issued new directives that will see the 2021 KCPE and KCSE exams take place in March 2022 and the year’s (2022) papers sat in November 2022.
KNEC will be critical in the administration, scoring and archiving of scores from the various assessments that learners will undertake under, throughout their CBC school life.
“The taskforce recommends that Knec assumes its leadership role in both policy and strategy for overall assessments,” CBC taskforce report reads.
