Ministry Close Cheating Loopholes As KCSE Begins.
More than 830,000 Form Four students will begin writing the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam today.
Stakeholders insist that integrity must be maintained in order for fairness to be achieved. Concerns have been raised that some candidates may be exposed to the exam papers before they start.
Candidates will begin with English Paper One and Chemistry Paper One, followed by Mathematics Paper One and English Comprehension the following day.
The written exams will take place from March 14 to April 1. To avoid early exposure to test papers, the time for opening containers was changed from 6 a.m. to 6.30 a.m.
According to the Kenya National Examination Council, 831,015 candidates registered for the 2021 KCSE examination in 10,413 centers, up from 752,981 in 10,437 the previous year.
CS Education George Magoha claims that all loopholes for cheating have been closed. He issued a warning to some Knec officials accused of conspiring with school principals to cheat on the exam.
Prof Magoha claims that unscrupulous officials are requesting personal information about students from school principals in order to boost their grades after marking.
“I’m instructing principals who are still eager to give index numbers of their students in the hope of getting fake exam results to stop wasting time.
“If you have a lot of money to waste, take it to the church. We have personal details of the officials involved and we are going to take firm action,” Prof Magoha said.
David Njeng’ere, CEO of KNEC
Some principals believe that when some students receive exam assistance, the playing field is tainted.
Knec chief executive David Njengere stated last week during the administration of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination that the council has put measures in place to prevent cheating.
The Knec chairman stated that there has been an increase in credibility since the implementation of a multi-agency approach to monitoring national examinations in 2016.
“We have ensured candidates writing the examination in special circumstances such as those in hospitals and prisons get the test papers wherever they are,” said Njengere.
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Other guidelines established by the examination council to prevent cheating include prohibiting candidates from leaving the examination room before the end of the paper, unless special permission is granted by invigilators.
During the tests, no outsiders will be permitted into the center, and communication within the examination room is also prohibited.
The Knesset president predicted that this year would be more difficult due to election campaigns and insecurity.
Ministry Close Cheating Loopholes As KCSE Begins.
