The Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) is a certificate awarded to students after completing the approved eight-year course in

primary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/ kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in '' primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. The examination is supervised by the

Kenya National Examination Council The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) is the national body responsible for overseeing national examinations in Kenya. Its current chairman is Professor John Onsati. This council was established under the Kenya National Examinations Counci ...

(KNEC), an examining body in Kenya under the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. The same body also conducts and regulates the

Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education The Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) is an academic qualification taken at the completion of secondary education in Kenya. The first KCSE exam was held in 1989 at the same time as the last Kenya Advanced Certificate of Education (K ...

(KCSE), a

certificate Certificate may refer to: * Birth certificate * Marriage certificate * Death certificate * Gift certificate * Certificate of authenticity, a document or seal certifying the authenticity of something * Certificate of deposit, or CD, a financial pr ...

awarded to students after completing

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...

. KCPE and KCSE were both started in 1985 when the 8-4-4 system of education was introduced in Kenya.

Examination

The subjects examined are

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

Kiswahili Swahili, also known by its local name , is the native language of the Swahili people, who are found primarily in Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique (along the East African coast and adjacent litoral islands). It is a Bantu language, though Swahili ...

, Social Studies and

Religious Education In secular usage, religious education is the teaching of a particular religion (although in the United Kingdom the term ''religious instruction'' would refer to the teaching of a particular religion, with ''religious education'' referring to t ...

(Christian/Islamic/Hindu) and

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...

. English and Kiswahili consist of two parts, for English there is Grammar and Composition, and for Kiswahili, there is Lugha and Insha. Social Studies includes a bit of Kenyan History, Civic education, current County system of government as well as all the Religious Studies. Deaf or hard of hearing students may choose to be tested in

Kenyan Sign Language Kenyan Sign Language (English: KSL, Swahili: LAK) is a sign language used by the deaf community in Kenya and Somalia. It is used by over half of Kenya's estimated 600,000 deaf population. There are some dialect differences between Kisumu (weste ...

instead of Kiswahili. Each subject is worth a maximum of 100 marks. Each candidate is therefore able to earn a maximum of 500 marks. Usually the exam time runs from the last week of October and takes three days. In 2016, the exams were held In October. Results are then announced by the Minister for Education sometime in November. Efforts are ongoing to scrap the KCPE exam.

References

External links

Kenya National Examination Council
Education in Kenya Primary school qualifications Primary education {{Kenya-stub