The results of the 1.2 million candidates who took the recently completed Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination will be released next week.
Marking of multiple-choice scripts will end today, according to Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha, thanks to the optical mark recognition (OMR) machine, which electronically scores the papers.
Machines that capture marked data from candidates’ answer sheets using specialized scanning have made marking multiple-choice questions easier.
The machines use a dedicated scanning device that shines a light beam on the paper.
The contrasting reflection at predetermined positions on a page is then used to detect marked areas, which reflect less light than blank areas of paper.
Another five days, according to Magoha, will be used to grade Kiswahili Insha and English composition.
OMR machines are also used to speed up the tallying of Kiswahili Insha and English Composition marks, which was previously done by examiners manually.
The two papers are still graded by hand.
However, physical counts are no longer used to calculate grades. After marking the Insha and Composition scripts, the examiners will hand over the papers to the new machine, which will perform electronic mark tallying in record time.
Magoha stated that with this technology, the results of the progress examinations would be available next week.
“Anytime as from Monday next week”
“Depending on His Excellency the president’s availability, we should be able to tell our children how they have performed,” said Prof Magoha
