Exam season is on: KCSE rehearsal is Friday 16 October, KPSEA and KJSEA start Monday 26 October. A record 3.6 million candidates, smart padlocks on every exam box and ‘no mercy’ for cheats

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Exam season is on: KCSE rehearsal is Friday 16 October, KPSEA and KJSEA start Monday 26 October. A record 3.6 million candidates, smart padlocks on every exam box and ‘no mercy’ for cheats.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba launched the 2026 national examinations at Mitihani House in Nairobi on Monday 5 October, with 3,634,846 candidates registered, 6.13 per cent more than last year and the biggest cohort ever.
KPSEA (Grade 6): 1,380,463 candidates.
KJSEA (Grade 9): 1,206,028 candidates. This is the first full Grade 9 exit exam under the competency-based curriculum.
KCSE (Form 4): 1,048,355 candidates, the first time KCSE has passed one million.
The dates
KCSE rehearsal: Friday 16 October. Oral, practical and low-candidature papers: 19 to 30 October. Main written papers: Monday 2 November to Friday 20 November, in 8am and 2pm sessions, starting with English Paper 1.
KPSEA and KJSEA rehearsal: Friday 23 October. Both exams start on Monday 26 October, with papers from 8.30am. KJSEA written papers run through the week to Friday 30 October, according to the published timetable.
Field officers' briefings start on Tuesday 6 October.
Security
Every exam container, 701 in all after 48 were added, now has a smart padlock monitored remotely from KNEC headquarters. The padlocks were piloted in 250 centres last year.
Question papers are printed with each candidate's details, and examiners mark anonymised scripts.
342,005 contracted staff are involved. For KCSE there are 10,765 centre managers, 12,274 supervisors, 57,432 invigilators and 21,388 security officers, with at least two police officers at every centre.
A 24-hour toll-free hotline will run during the exams. Contingency plans are in place for El Niño rains, and the Ministry of Gender will support pregnant candidates.
A mobile phone in an exam room counts as malpractice under the KNEC Act.
"Let me affirm today that we will have no mercy on anyone who will be found engaging in any form of malpractice," Ogamba said. KNEC chief executive Dr David Njengere said: "Mobile phones remain our biggest challenge in administration of KCSE examination."
What it means for parents in Kibra
Rehearsal day confirms your child's centre, seat and timetable. KCSE candidates rehearse on 16 October; Grade 6 and Grade 9 candidates on 23 October.
Candidates should be seated 15 minutes before each paper, with blue or black pens and no phone. Arriving more than 30 minutes late can mean missing the paper.
Adults caught helping candidates cheat, including parents, teachers and invigilators, face prosecution, not just the child.
Ask the school what its plan is if heavy rain floods the route to the centre.
Sources: The Star (candidate numbers, containers, Ogamba quote), The Standard (staffing, padlocks, KCSE dates, Njengere quote), MyCyber and Education News Hub (KPSEA and KJSEA rehearsal and timetable), Nairobi Leo (KCSE session times).
That was a Kibra News Network report, read by an A I voice.