Education reforms: From paper to digital, e-Assessment unveiled

 

Education CS Julius Ogamba and KNEC CEO David Njengere during the launch of 2025 National Examinations and Assessments Season. [File, Standard]

The Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) has begun implementing e-assessment as part of Kenya’s ongoing education reforms.

This will mark a significant shift in assessment since the country embarked on the reforms where assessment processes will be fully aligned with the global best practices that require faster and more accurate and cost effective feedback to learners and schools.

The transition comes amid rising costs, a rapidly growing learner population and increasing demand for fairer, more responsive assessment systems.

Knec Chief Executive Officer David Njengere said the plan represents a gradual but decisive move toward digital testing across primary, junior and senior schools. 

He noted that the council believes e-assessment will strengthen the credibility and resilience of the examination system.

Dr Njengere said digital assessments would make the system “more secure, more resilient and fairer,” including for learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SNE).“We’re advocating this because we genuinely believe the system will be greatly improved,” he said.

To support the transition, the government plans to connect every school to the internet through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), with a focus on remote regions that lack electricity and network coverage.

The Ministry of ICT is also deploying solar panels and fibre cables to off-grid schools to make the programme viable.

“Through the rural electrification, solar panelling of schools, it is possible. It is also necessary if we want to keep the digital divide from becoming a digital chasm,” Njengere said.

The push for connectivity has gained urgency following lessons learned during the Covid-19 pandemic, which disrupted learning for 1.6 billion learners globally.

Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association chairman Willie Kuria said improved access to power and internet connectivity would directly enhance learning outcomes.

“Many parts of the country have benefited from the programme, with schools reporting a 10 percent rise in connectivity. Many of our schools are now moving towards solar power to cut on cost as well as reach remote areas,” Kuria said.

In parallel, the government is reworking plans to revive the laptop project launched more than a decade ago to ensure the success of digital learning and assessment.

In 2016, more than 1.2 million digital devices, including tablets and laptops, were distributed to public primary schools under the Digital Literacy Programme.

The initiative connected over 22,000 schools to electricity and aimed at boosting ICT skills among learners.

The devices were assembled locally at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and Moi University.

However, due to logistical challenges, the government later shifted its strategy from a “one laptop per child” model to constructing computer laboratories in schools.

The programme faced several challenges, including high implementation costs, limited ICT skills among teachers in some areas and the need for improved infrastructure to support digital learning.

Currently, Knec is already implementing e-assessment in all teacher training college examinations and in 50 assessment papers for Technical and Vocational Education and Training institutions.

“We expect that in the next one or two years, a third to half of exams could be online,” Njeng’ere said.