KCSE Rehearsal Kicks Off: What Candidates and Teachers Must Know
Rehearsal for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) began today, Friday 16th October 2026, ahead of the start of the national examination on Monday 19th October.
The one-day exercise gives schools, candidates and examination officials a final run-through before the real papers begin, and it is meant to ensure everything is in place for a smooth, secure and credible exam.
What happens on rehearsal day
Teachers contracted by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) as centre managers, supervisors and invigilators report to their centres and carry out a number of key tasks.
The most important is briefing candidates on exam instructions, guidelines, rules and the penalties for breaking them.
Candidates are also taken through the arrangement of their desks or tables. For KCSE, seating follows candidates’ index numbers. For KPSEA and KJSEA, it follows assessment numbers.
Duties of supervisors, invigilators and centre managers on rehearsal day
- Secure storage: The centre manager allocates a secure room with a lockable cabinet or cupboard for storing examination materials, other than question papers and answer scripts, throughout the exam period.
- Inspection of exam rooms: Officials check that rooms meet KNEC’s specifications, are free of stimulus materials, and have desks or tables arranged as prescribed.
- Briefing candidates: Candidates are told how to conduct themselves during the examination.
- Briefing invigilators: Supervisors brief invigilators and assign them duties for the exam period.
Who is allowed inside exam centres
To curb malpractice, KNEC has restricted access to centres during the KPSEA, KCPE and KCSE exam periods. Only the following people are authorised:
- The centre manager
- The deputy principal or deputy headteacher (where there is more than one deputy, the centre manager designates one to assist)
- Supervisors
- Invigilators
- The gatekeeper
- Laboratory technicians and science teachers, only during practicals
- Authorised support staff who prepare candidates’ meals and restrict their movements to the kitchen
According to the TSC circular, directors, BOM chairs and members, bursars, accounts clerks, secretaries, unauthorised teachers and groundsmen are barred from the centre while exams are in progress.
Centre managers must prepare a weekly list of authorised persons, with names, ID numbers, TSC numbers, phone numbers and roles, and have it endorsed by the Sub County Director of Education (SCDE) before rehearsal day.
The exam calendar
TSC Circular No. 17/2026, dated 14 September 2026, was issued jointly with KNEC’s plans and sets out the schedule:
| Examination | Rehearsal | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| KCSE | 16 Oct | 19 Oct | 20 Nov |
| KJSEA | 23 Oct | 26 Oct | 30 Oct |
| KPLEA | 23 Oct | 26 Oct | 29 Oct |
| KPSEA | 23 Oct | 26 Oct | 28 Oct |
| KILEA | 23 Oct | 26 Oct | 29 Oct |
What KNEC briefed teachers on
KNEC sensitised teachers on their roles during its briefings, covering daily management and conduct of exams, the new format for shading Optical Mark Reader (OMR) forms, recruitment, deployment and responsibilities of field officers, quality assurance, and exam security.
Shading OMR forms correctly
KPSEA and KJSEA candidates answer multiple-choice questions on OMR sheets. They should shade the ellipses fully and not strike through them.
KNEC has posted sample OMR sheets on the CBA Grade 6 portal, under instructions and sample papers, for practice.
Supervisors must verify OMR forms and scripts, arrange them in order, and pack them in return polybags according to the set ranges of assessment or index numbers.
Daily management and accountability
Opening of materials: Packets are opened five minutes before the start time on the timetable.
Container collection: KPSEA and KJSEA materials are collected once each morning, while KCSE materials are collected twice a day. Containers open at 6:00 a.m. for KPSEA and KJSEA, and at 7:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. for the KCSE morning and afternoon sessions.
Box identification: Boxes are labelled with the date and session, and the correct ones must be identified before opening. Colour-coded straps and polybags distinguish KPSEA, KJSEA and KCSE materials.
Online attendance: Centre managers must take daily attendance on CP2 from rehearsal day. Registers are printed at the end of each exam period, signed by all officers, and stamped by the centre manager and the SCDE.
Script Control Forms: KCSE and KJSEA candidates sign the form for every paper, and every return polybag must carry one. Absentees are marked “AB” in red. The forms must not be stamped by the centre manager or carry any school details.
Counterfoils: These stay attached to scripts until the paper’s time has elapsed. Detaching them early is an examination irregularity.
Absent candidates: Their question papers are sealed and stapled in the packet and placed on a desk in full view of candidates during the session.
Practicals under tight control
Centres are limited to a maximum of two practical sessions per paper. Teachers of science subjects with a practical element may be in the centre only on the day before and the day of the practical.
Other preparation is restricted to weekends and the hours after 5 p.m. once the day’s exams have ended.
Only the chemistry teacher collects practical data for transmission to KNEC, about 30 minutes before the session ends. Biology and Physics teachers should not carry out the practical.
Phones and electronic devices
All mobile phones and electronic devices, including those belonging to security officers and teachers preparing laboratories, are kept locked outside the exam room under a security officer’s watch, and the supervisor holds the key.
No one may enter an exam room with a phone while a paper is in progress. Invigilators stand at the back of the room, mathematical tables are checked for cleanliness, and candidates are checked for unauthorised materials.
Quality assurance and security
- KNEC monitoring officers can go straight to exam rooms without first reporting to the head’s office.
- School gates must remain open from 6:00 a.m. until the day’s exam materials leave the centre.
- Centre managers must sign and stamp monitoring questionnaires.
- Officers from the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) will monitor security officers during KCSE.
- Every KCSE centre will have two security officers, and KCSE centre managers must be escorted from the container to the school and back. KJSEA and KPSEA centre managers are not escorted unless the area is declared insecure.
Whistle-blowers can write to KNEC (anonymously if they wish), call 0800721410 or 0800724900, use 0798060000 and 0798060010, reach KNEC through its social media channels, or visit KNEC offices in person. Complaints about security officers go to IPOA on the toll-free line 1559.
Who qualifies for each role
The TSC circular says teachers must be qualified, employed or registered by TSC, and “of high integrity and not easily compromised.”
KCSE
- Supervisors: Serving secondary school teachers employed by or registered with TSC, with at least a Diploma in Education. Senior teachers or heads of department are preferred.
- Invigilators: Serving primary school teachers employed by or registered with TSC, with at least three years’ teaching experience.
KJSEA
- Supervisors: Serving secondary school teachers with at least a Diploma in Education, or serving primary or junior school teachers with three or more years’ experience. All must have supervised national exams or assessments before.
- Invigilators: Serving primary school teachers with at least three years’ experience.
KPSEA
- Supervisors: Serving primary school teachers with at least three years’ experience who have previously invigilated national exams or assessments.
- Invigilators: Serving primary or junior school teachers with at least three years’ experience.
Staffing ratios
- One supervisor for every 200 candidates, and none for hosted centres.
- One invigilator for every 20 candidates, with hosted centres staffed according to the hosting centre’s candidature.
- A centre with both KJSEA and KPSEA candidates gets one supervisor for both if the combined candidature is under 200. Each assessment still has its own rooms and invigilators.
- For KILEA and KPLEA, teachers invigilate their own learners, with one invigilator per ten learners for KILEA and per five for KPLEA. No supervisor or centre manager is deployed to these centres.
Integrity safeguards
No home-school postings: No supervisor or invigilator may be deployed to a school where they have served in the last three years. CP2 has been configured to enforce this.
Declaration of interest: Supervisors, invigilators and centre managers must declare any interest in their centre. KNEC will email the form to Sub County Directors, who will share it with centre managers. Anyone confirmed to have an interest will be redeployed. Signed forms are returned with the centre manager’s report and the CP2 attendance register.
Weekly KCSE rotation: KCSE supervisors rotate weekly. Each outgoing supervisor prepares a report for their week and brief handover notes for the incoming supervisor.
Oral and practical papers: Only supervisors are required at centres during KCSE oral and practical papers.
Special arrangements
Touch readers (blind candidates): Centres with such candidates should have at least one invigilator conversant with Braille.
Hosted and hosting centres: Both must have their own centre managers, though the hosting centre manager collects and returns materials from the containers.
Hardship cases: Centre managers must report hospitalised candidates outside their sub-county by 5:00 p.m. on the day before the paper. These candidates must not be declared absent. The venue where they sat the paper is recorded on the Script Control Form and in the certificate of supervision, and the case is captured on CP2.
Recruitment challenges: Sub-counties struggling to recruit enough qualified personnel should write to si@knec.ac.ke stating the reason, and KNEC will provide assistance.
What teachers should do now
- Log in to cp2.knec.ac.ke and download your deployment letter.
- Check your school and role, and confirm the details and your workstation on CP2.
- Declare any interest in your posted centre honestly and early.
- Prepare to attend the briefing for your role, with centre managers and supervisors going first.
- Keep your letter, ID and badge ready for daily use during the exams.
A massive national undertaking
About 3.4 million learners are expected to sit national exams and assessments beginning this month:
- KPSEA: 1,303,913 candidates
- KJSEA: 1,145,585 candidates
- KCSE: 996,078 candidates
To run an operation of this size, KNEC says it has contracted 342,005 professionals, including centre managers, supervisors, invigilators and script markers, to oversee this year’s national exams and assessments.
With rehearsal under way, KCSE candidates now turn to the real papers on Monday 19th October.
