Education Cabinet Secretary, Prof George Magoha on Monday raised a red flag over instances of cheating in the ongoing KCSE exam. He issued a stern warning to high school principals who engage in such acts.
Magoha Particularly referred to a ‘popular’ secondary school in Western Kenya, which is closely being monitored for trying to cheat.
“Very sadly indeed, we are monitoring a school somewhere in Western, it is a popular school. It has been doing very well, where the Principal has already moved teachers out of the compound and is getting the experts to come and do the exam for the children and smuggle the exams back to the classroom,” said Magoha.
“Let this serve as a warning to that principal, he should actually be ashamed of himself. It is a very good school, the children have always done well and there is no reason why he tried to do that type of thing,” Magoha observed.
He noted that education officials have been dispatched to all examination centers to watch over hot spots like Migori County.
“For teachers bent on causing problems, we may have to go public and deal with them during the examination process if they do not stop the nonsense they are doing,” warned Magoha.
The Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) had flagged some 30 centers before the exams began last week.
“I wish to warn that some centres have been flagged after KNEC received reports of their plans to cheat. It should be known that 30 such centres countrywide are under our careful watch over their plans to engage in malpractices.
“Our monitors will be vigilant and any centre found to be engaging in unethical practices will face stern action,” the CS had said last week.
No private transport for exams
Magoha insisted that no school will be authorized to use private means to transport the exam materials adding that there are enough government vehicles to facilitate the process.
“There were calls from some private schools asking if they can ferry exams via private means but this will not be allowed,” he said.
He also stated that officers will only be allowed to carry mobile phones during break time and not in the exam room. The Education ministry he said, is working jointly with international schools which are offering certified exams to their learners to ensure no hiccups are reported.
He, however, noted these schools should not use end-of-term exams as a reason to keep children in school, directing that they should stay at home until other directives are issued.
“End of term exams are not certified and only candidates in these schools should remain,” he said.
KCPE marking
“We are marking the scripts… we are at about 35 percent and we are organizing to manually mark Insha and Composition which will start during the course of the week.
“The progress is well and we should be able to complete as we scheduled,” he assured.
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