Education Ministry Bans Prayer Days, Prize-Givings, AGMs in Third Term
By Chemtai Kirui, NAIROBI,
The Ministry of Education has banned all non-academic activities in schools during the third term, in a bid to safeguard learning and ensure full focus on upcoming national examinations.
The Principal Secretary for Basic Education Dr. Julius Bitok has given the instruction to regional, county, and sub-county education officials to enforce a ban on prayer sessions involving parents or external guests, annual general meetings (AGMs), prize-giving ceremonies, thanksgiving events, and visiting days.
“Such activities shall be conducted exclusively during the First and Second Terms of the school calendar year,” Bitok wrote.
He however said that internal prayers led by teachers or school chaplains will continue uninterrupted.
The directive comes as the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) prepares to administer a full schedule of tests for more than 3.5 million learners nationwide. This includes the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), set for October 21 to November 21, and assessments for primary and junior secondary schools—KJSEA, KILEA, KPLEA, and KPSEA—scheduled between October 27 and November 5.
Annual leave for officials involved in exam administration has also been frozen to guarantee supervision across all centers.
Third term has traditionally been a high-pressure period in Kenya, with exam candidates balancing intensive revision and heightened parental expectations.
The stricter guidelines reflect the ministry’s ongoing effort to tighten exam integrity, especially following past incidents of cheating and school unrest linked to outside interference.
The ban means parents will not have physical access to candidates during the term. Events such as prize-giving ceremonies and thanksgiving days will now have to be held earlier in the school year.
AGMs, key decision-making forums for many school boards, will also be postponed.
The ministry maintains that the directive is necessary to give candidates “an enabling environment to prepare for exams without distraction.”
