Major Reforms, Changes at the Kenya National Examination Council, Knec: Final CBC Task Force Report
| Issues | Analysis | Recommendations |
| Establishment of the Council | Section 3 (1) of the KNEC Act establishes the “Kenya National Examination Council”. The current procedure for evaluation being carried out by KNEC is assessment as opposed to examination thus the name of the council should reflect the same. | Amend the title of the KNEC Act and Section 3 (1) of the Act and replace the phrase “Kenya National Examination Council” with “Kenya National Assessment Council” and everywhere in the act where the name of the Council appears as Kenya National Examination Council including the long title. |
| Composition of Council | Section 4 (1) of the KNEC Act provides for the composition of the council as follows:
(i) a Chairperson appointed by the President under Section 5; |
| (ii) the Principal Secretary of the Ministry responsible for
matters relating to education or a representative of the Principal Secretary; (iii) the officer in charge of quality assurance and standards in the Ministry responsible for matters relating to education; (iv) the Director of the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development; (v) the Secretary of the Teachers Service Commission; (vi) the following persons appointed by the Cabinet Secretary – (a) one member to represent the interest of persons with disabilities; (b) one person to represent the post school technical and business training institutions in Kenya, including polytechnics; |
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| (c) one person to represent private sector involved with management of Education as the Cabinet Secretary may determine; (d) one person to represent any other special interest as the Cabinet Secretary may determine; and | Amend Section 4 (1) of the KNEC Act on composition of council as follows: –
(i) A chairperson appointed by the President; (ii) Principal Secretary Basic Education or his/her representative; |
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| (vii) the Chief Executive Officer. | (iii) Principal Secretary National Treasury or his/her representative; | |
| (iv) CEO KICD or his/her representative; | ||
| (v) CEO TSC or his/her representative; | ||
| (vi) Three other persons to represent: | ||
| • FBOs
• Marginalised groups • Private sector (one of who shall be a person living with disability). |
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| (vii) The Chief Executive Officer who shall be an ex-officio member. |
| Functions of the Council | Section 10 (1) (a) of the KNEC Act provides that the Council shall set and maintain examination standards, conduct public academic, technical and other national examinations within Kenya at basic and tertiary levels.
This provision extends the mandate of the council to tertiary levels yet there exist the body known as TVET CDACC which does assessment for technical and vocational education and training. Thus, the inclusion of the mandate of the council to tertiary levels creates duplication of roles. |
Amend Section 10 (1) (a) of the KNEC Act by deleting the phrase “tertiary” and replacing teacher education and training. |
| Term of Office of Chairperson and Members | Section 7 of the KNEC Act provides for term of office of the chairperson and members who shall serve for a term of four years, and shall be eligible for re-appointment for one further term. However, Mwongozo which is the Code of Governance for State Corporations guides that the tenure of a board member should not exceed accumulative term of six years or two terms of three years each. Therefore, there should be conformity with the policy in this regard. | Amend Section 7 of the Act to provide that the chairperson and members of the council shall serve for a term of three (3) years and eligible for reappointment for one further term. |
| Establishment of the National Examination Appeals Tribunal | The KNEC (Amendment) Act, 2Ol7 establishes the National Examination Appeals Tribunal at Section 40B of the Act.
However, the tribunal has only handled one case since its establishment therefore there is no need for its existence. As earlier discussed herein, all appeals of the decision of the council should thus be handled by the Education Appeals Tribunal. |
Delete Section 40B and merge tribunal with the Education Appeals Tribunal and provide that appeals of the decision of the council be made at the Education Appeals Tribunal. |
