The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) will examine 3,634,846 candidates in national examinations and assessments between October 16 and November 20, 2026.

KNEC Chief Executive Officer David Njengere announced the figures on Monday October 5 during the 2026 national examination and assessment season launch, saying the council will hire and deploy 342,005 contracted professionals to facilitate the conduct and management of the field administration process.

“The Council will administer assessments and examination to a total of 3,634,846 candidates between 16 th October and 20 th November 2026,” Mr Njengere stated. “KNEC will engage a total of 342,005 contracted professionals to facilitate the conduct and management of the field administration process.”

The personnel will comprise of centre managers, supervisors, invigilators, security officers and drivers involved in the administration and management of the examinations and assessments. The 2026 examination and assessment season will involve Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) and Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA).

The KCSE rehearsals will commence on October 16 with papers involving smaller candidature on October 19 to October 30. Papers involving larger numbers of candidates will be administered from November 2 to November 20. The KPSEA and KJSEA assessments will take place from October 26 to October 30.

The total candidature represents a 6.13 per cent increase from the 3,424,836 candidates who sat for national examinations and assessments in 2025. Of the 3,634,846 candidates, 1,380,463 are registered for KPSEA, 1,206,028 for KJSEA and 1,048,355 for KCSE. The KCSE candidature has exceeded one-million for the first time.

In addition to the measures undertaken to secure examination materials and prevent early access to the examination papers, smart padlocks will be used to secure all examination storage containers after a pilot in 250 containers in 2025.

The locks will be monitored from KNEC headquarters and the key will be opened at specified times. KPSEA and KJSEA papers will be accessed from 6 am while the KCSE centre managers will collect examination papers at 7am and 12:30 pm for morning and afternoon sessions respectively.

The examination officials have further warned candidates, parents and examination officials against attempts to access examination papers before they are administered.

“All candidates will see the papers for the first time on the day of the examination,” Mr Njengere said, adding that parents and candidates should not pay any person claiming to be in a position to provide examination papers.

Mobile phones have also been identified as a critical examination security risk in examinations. Mr Njengere said candidates and examination officials would not be allowed to have mobile phones at examination centres during examination sessions and will be treated as malpractice.

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba separately warned that candidates and examination officials caught engaging in malpractice would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.