Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha yesterday singled out police officers securing KCSE exams countrywide as a potential risk in the fight against cheating.
Revealing that the just concluded KCPE exams were by Monday morning 35 per cent marked — the exercise being speeded up to beat cheating at that level — the CS also banned ferrying of exam papers by use of public or private means, saying, ferrying must be done by school vans or government-procured means.”
He reiterated government’s commitment to seal all loopholes that might breed cheating, and warned that the State has the fortitude to even cancel the whole exercise if it demands so in its pursuit to deliver results that most honestly captures the academic position of the two levels of education.
The CS said there were conspiracy schemes being hatched to transport the papers using matatus, boda bodas and tuktuks with an intention of winning some ground to tamper with the papers.
“We cannot be too sure of what is happening to our exam papers as those insecure means of transport snake past all manner of corners and bushes. It must not apply at whatever cost,” he said in Kenol, Murang’a where he supervised the opening of exam containers.
The CS cited incidents — one in Western and three in Nyanza — where teachers are suspected to be colluding with officers to tamper with the integrity of the exams. “...a male head teacher at a school somewhere in Western region is reported to be engaged in attempts to corrupt the examination exercise…” Prof Magoha said.
He said three teachers in Migori County are under investigations following their attempts to tamper with the exam papers. The CS wondered how it could happen in the presence of police.
To that effect, the CS ordered that starting today, all the police officers participating in the exercise be denied entry into exam centres if in possession of mobile phones. “These mobile phones are being used to take screenshots of the test questions and intended to be sent to destinations that will facilitate cheating...”
