PS: 2025 KCSE examiners’ payments to be cleared soon

Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok has assured KCSE stakeholders that the government is addressing all pending payments arising from the 2025 national examinations.

Bitok said the Ministry of Education is working closely with the National Treasury to clear dues owed to teachers, examiners, coordinators, and other personnel who participated in the administration and marking of the exams.

“I want to assure all our stakeholders who took part in the 2025 examination that we are working very closely with the Treasury, and their dues will be paid as soon as possible,” the PS said.

Bitok added that the ministry remains committed to improving the welfare of examination personnel to ensure smooth delivery of future national assessments.

He thanked teams involved in the 2025 KCSE exams, including officials from the ministries of education, national administration and interior, and ICT.

“I want to thank them very sincerely for the work they have done,” he said.

The PS spoke on Friday during the release of the KCSE exam results at AIC Chebisas High School, Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County.

In December 2025, the marking of the examinations was thrown into uncertainty after examiners at marking centres downed their tools over delayed payment of allowances.

At the time, the Star sought comment over the incident from the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec).

An official confirmed that there had been delays in paying the allowance, but the Council assured that it was working around the clock to ensure no one leaves the marking centre without being paid.

At Mary Hill Girls High School, one of the 40 official KCSE marking centres across the country, examiners handling English Paper 2 staged demonstrations, protesting what they termed as the government’s failure to pay their coordination allowances.

According to the protesting teachers, a total of 867 examiners deployed to the Mary Hill centre had not received their allowances since arriving at the facility on November 30.

They said the delays caused frustration and financial strain, forcing some to cater for upkeep costs out of their own pockets.

“The agreement was that coordination allowances would be paid within five days of our arrival. Three weeks later, nothing had been paid,” one of the examiners said then.

The examiners demanded a coordination allowance of Sh5,000 each, which they said was promised by the government at the start of the exercise.

Those who remained behind said they had also suspended marking activities until the issue is resolved.