NAIROBI, Kenya — Thousands of teachers who marked the 2025 national examinations have finally received their long-awaited allowances after the National Treasury released Sh1.5 billion to settle outstanding payments.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba announced on Thursday that the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) had completed the disbursement of outstanding marking allowances to examiners who participated in the 2025 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) and Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA).
The payments end months of uncertainty for teachers who had repeatedly demanded compensation after completing the marking exercise.
According to Ogamba, the payments were processed after the National Treasury released Sh1.5 billion to KNEC on July 7 specifically to clear the pending balances.
“We are pleased to inform all examiners who participated in the marking of the 2025 Kenya Junior School Education Assessment and the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination that the balance of their marking allowances has been disbursed to their respective accounts by the Kenya National Examinations Council,” Ogamba said.
He thanked examiners and other contracted professionals for remaining patient despite the prolonged delay.
“We commend the examiners and other contracted professionals for their professionalism, patience and continued commitment to fostering quality and credibility in our national assessments and examinations,” he added.
The delayed payments had become a major concern among teachers, with many taking to social media to accuse KNEC of failing to honour its contractual obligations months after they completed the marking exercise.
The issue also attracted the attention of Parliament, where lawmakers questioned the delay in settling the allowances.
The 2025 national examination season was Kenya’s largest, with more than 3.4 million learners sitting the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) and the Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA).
To manage the exercise, KNEC deployed 342,687 contracted personnel, including examiners, invigilators, supervisors, centre managers, drivers and security officers.
However, funding constraints delayed payments after the 2025/26 budget initially omitted funding for the administration of national examinations.
Although the National Assembly later allocated Sh5.9 billion to KNEC against a funding requirement of Sh12.58 billion, the council still faced a significant financing gap, leaving thousands of contracted professionals waiting for their dues.
At one point, about 45,000 KCSE and KJSEA examiners were owed approximately Sh2.7 billion, with the Ministry of Education attributing the delays to budgetary and cash flow challenges.
The prolonged wait also triggered the circulation of fake social media posts falsely claiming KNEC lacked funds or had encountered problems processing payments.
KNEC dismissed the claims and maintained it was working with the government to resolve the issue.