KCSE 2026 Opens With Friday Rehearsals as KUPPET Maintains Standoff With KNEC

Rehearsals for the 2026 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations take place on Friday, opening a calendar that runs to November 20 while a dispute over examination staff pay and working conditions remains live.

The sessions are used to take candidates through examination procedures, instructions and rules before they begin sitting their papers.

Under the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) timetable, oral and practical papers start on Monday, October 19 in subjects including French, German, Kenyan Sign Language, music and Arabic. The main written papers begin on November 2 and are expected to run until November 20.

This year’s KCSE is the second-last sitting under the 8-4-4 system, which is being phased out.

The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) has kept in place a directive telling its members to stay away from KNEC activities. The union says grievances over the pay and working conditions of teachers contracted to manage and mark national examinations have not been settled.

Rates for centre managers, supervisors, invigilators, examiners and other contracted staff are reviewed every four years, with the next review due next year.

The National Treasury released Sh1.5 billion on July 7 to clear outstanding balances for 2025. Two days later, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba announced that KNEC had sent the money to examiners’ accounts. The payments came after months of delay that had pushed teachers’ unions to threaten a boycott of this year’s examinations.

The disbursement did not end the wider dispute. KUPPET is seeking assurances of improved pay and working conditions, and its officials have challenged the rates currently on offer.

KUPPET Secretary General Akelo Misori said the union had put KNEC on notice and asked members not to take part in any examinations the council conducts, warning that without assurances on examiners’ terms of service the year would not proceed as usual. He also argued that the rates paid to examination staff fall below the daily wage of unskilled construction workers, saying KNEC treats professionals as if they belong to that category of workers.

KUPPET Deputy Secretary General Moses Nthurima said supervisors are paid Sh600, a paper is marked at Sh55, and a pocket allowance of Sh150 is being given, which he said was the rate in 1990. He said the union wants its members to refrain from KNEC activities until the council discusses better terms with them.

The report did not carry a KNEC response to the directive or to the criticism of the pay rates, and the union has not said whether the council has offered any assurances. It is also not clear whether the July disbursement covered all outstanding 2025 balances or only part of them.

The union has not disclosed whether members have complied with the directive, and no KNEC contingency arrangements have been announced should the standoff continue. The number of examiners, centre managers, supervisors and invigilators affected has not been stated.

Whether the dispute is resolved before oral and practical papers begin on October 19 remains open.

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