The Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) was a certificate awarded to students after completing the approved eight-year course in primary education in Kenya. The examination was supervised by the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC), an examining body in Kenya under the Ministry of Education. The same body also conducted and regulated the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), a certificate awarded to students after completing secondary education. KCPE and KCSE were both started in 1985 when the 8-4-4 system of education was introduced in Kenya.The last KCPE examination, under this system was done on November 1, 2023 at 11am. These exams were replaced by KPSEA (Kenya Primary School Education Assessment).
The subjects examined were Mathematics, English, Kiswahili, Social Studies and Religious Education (Christian/Islamic/Hindu) and Science. English and Kiswahili consisted of two parts, for English there was Grammar and Composition, and for Kiswahili, there was Lugha and Insha(Composition). Social Studies included 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 instead of Kiswahili.[1] Each subject was worth a maximum of 100 marks. Each candidate was therefore able to earn a maximum of 500 marks. Usually, the exam time ran from the last week of October and takes three days. In 2016, the exams were held In October.[2] Results were then announced by the Minister for Education sometime in November.Efforts were ongoing to scrap the KCPE exam. KCPE was eventually replaced by KPSEA (Kenya Primary School Education Assessment.) [3] [4] [5]