The Ministry of Education is planning to phase out paper-based examinations across the education system in the coming years, in a sweeping reform aimed at reducing the billions of shillings spent annually on printing and administering national tests.
Dr Elyas Abdi, the Director General for Basic Education, said the ambitious plan would partner with the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) to introduce electronic assessment of learners as part of wider reforms to streamline the education sector.
“Exams in this country have been an expensive affair, and paperless exams seek to address this in the coming years,” Dr. Abdi said.
The council’s annual requirement for school examination and invigilation has been pegged at Sh 12.5 billion, while budget allocations have repeatedly fallen far short of that figure.
In the 2024/2025 financial year, KNEC recorded a deficit of Sh3.7 billion in administering national examinations, a shortfall that nearly paralysed the body and prompted urgent intervention by Parliament.
Budget projections for 2026/27 show that administering school exams and invigilation will require Sh14.7 billion, yet only Sh9.9 billion has been proposed, leaving a deficit of Sh4.82 billion.
Part of the cost burden has historically been driven by the practice of printing exam papers abroad.
For many years, KNEC has outsourced the printing of examination booklets and optical mark recognition forms to foreign security printers, a practice that education stakeholders have criticised for being expensive and logistically cumbersome.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi challenged the need to continue printing examination materials in London, arguing that the practice imposed unnecessary costs on taxpayers.
According to KNEC Chief Executive Officer David Njengere, the move towards e-assessment is prompted by the successful rollout of electronic examinations in teacher training colleges, where over 37,000 trainees have been examined digitally and graduated over the past three years.
KNEC’s digital initiative has grown from a pilot with 45 candidates in 2021 to over 50,000 candidates across more than 100 learning institutions by 2025.
Trainees in teacher training colleges now sit examinations entirely online, with completed scripts submitted electronically through the KNEC portal for marking.
KNEC has announced plans to introduce digital assessments in senior schools starting in 2027, with the council noting that the system would enhance digital literacy among students, enable remote marking, accelerate result processing, and improve decision-making for education policy through automated analytics.
Analysts estimate that digitising assessments could cut operational expenses by up to 30 percent.
The Kenya National Educational Assessments Council (KNEAC) Bill 2025, part of recommendations of the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms, also proposes an overhaul of learner testing to usher in technologies such as electronic marking, AI-powered scoring, and real-time assessments.
Dr. Abdi was speaking at the Kenya National Commission for UNESCO national knowledge-sharing and policy meeting for education stakeholders in Naivasha, where he called for the incorporation of research recommendations to address gaps in the sector.
He added that Grade 10 learners had settled into their selected pathways and that the curriculum design for Grade 12 materials had been completed, and teacher capacity building was underway.
The Director General said the government was committed to strengthening sector policies and enhancing education for all.
Hassan Ali, the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Higher Education of Somalia, said his country had made considerable progress in reviving the sector following the end of the civil war and that the Somali government had increased its financing for education to improve access and quality education.
He added that the administration was addressing gaps in reaching pastoral communities and those in remote areas to facilitate learning for all.
According to Dr. James Njogu, the Acting CEO of UNESCO Kenya, the stakeholders meeting was aimed at harnessing research to inform policies and decision-making in the education sector.
He noted that UNESCO was currently supporting nine projects across the country and was finalising a report that would offer key recommendations to strengthen the sector.
By Erastus Gichohi
