Tears for hundreds in KCPE list of cheats

The full extent of irregularities in the 2009 Standard Eight exams was revealed on Wednesday as actual results reached schools and 2,000 candidates found their results had been cancelled.

Education minister Sam Ongeri did not reveal the list of the 80 schools affected or reveal candidates' names when he released the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination results on Tuesday.

Prison cheats

But on Wednesday, pupils were in shock when they learnt that eight years of primary school had gone up in flames. It also emerged that results of seven inmates from Thika prison were cancelled. The candidates, who sat the examination behind bars, were found to have cheated in social studies and science.

Private schools had the higher proportion of cheating cases, which increased from 1,835 in 2008 and 1,802 in 2007. Of the 80 schools where candidates cheated, 33 were from private schools out of a total of 3,168 private schools.

The rest of the schools, 47, were public schools out of a total of 17,669 public schools countrywide. At the Coast province, results for 200 candidates were cancelled because of cheating. Data from the Coast provincial education office showed that 15 schools out of the 1,362 that sat the KCPE were affected.

Some of the results were cancelled after cheating was detected in English, Kiswahili and science papers. Those found to have cheated in English alone were 147, both in English and Kiswahili 58, science alone 34, both in Kiswahili and Science 31 and Kiswahili alone 20.

In his speech, the minister said from 2010, any exam candidate who cheats will be barred from taking any Kenya National Examination Council tests for two years.

In Western Province, results of 59 candidates from three primary schools were cancelled over irregularities. In Mt Elgon District, 27 candidates from Kapkurongo primary school were penalised for collusion in English.

Another 30 candidates from Mukulusi primary in Kakamega East were also penalised for collusion in science, while one candidate from Mwiyenga primary in Bungoma South district was caught with prepared notes while writing the science paper.

The affected schools will be investigated to establish how the irregularities took place and those involved face disciplinary action. In Rift Valley Province, results for six primary schools were cancelled in various subjects due to collusion.

Missed exams

Provincial Director of Education Beatrice Adu told the Daily Nation that the affected schools were in Kuresoi, North Pokot, Koibatek, Kajiado and West Pokot districts. In Marakwet district, 30 candidates in nine schools did not get results after they failed to sit all or some of the papers.

The affected schools were named as Kapchelaga primary, Kapyego primary, Kapkanyar, Mugula, Kabaldamet, Tot, Mung’wa and Marot primary schools. Area exam officer Moses Chemongwo attributed the absenteeism to early marriages in the area.

In Nyamira, it was sorrow and gloom for 10 pupils who missed their exam results due to irregularities. The 10 out of 13 pupils who sat the exam in Meva Academy in Kebirigo zone got a rude shock when they were told that their results had been nullified.

Already, Knec boss Paul Wasanga has written to provincial directors of education asking them to carry out investigations into the irregularities. Nyamira District education officer Hassan Duale said the results for the affected pupils were cancelled.

This is the first time in three years the district has been affected by cheating. On Wednesday, Mr Duale said he would investigate how the pupils in the affected private school colluded during the exams. “Stern action will be taken against those who will be found to have assisted the pupils to cheat in the exam,” he warned.

Prior to the exams, Knec vowed to stamp out cheating by using water-tight means, including frisking of candidates entering exam rooms to ensure no mobile phones or notes were sneaked in. According to Knec head of corporate affairs Ken Ramani, a foolproof method of detecting cheating during the marking process has been established.

“It is not for public consumption but it is a stringent system that has been tested and proven to work,” he said. He said Knec was developing new ways to curb the vice and especially, to deal with cheating aided by technology such as the mobile phones that first appeared in primary school exam rooms this year. “It’s a disease that is there in all societies and not unique to Kenya,” he added.

Central Kenya education officials were baffled by the irregularity inside such a well-guarded place as Thika Prison. They are also furious with the fact that the prison ruined an otherwise irregularity-free exam in the region. “We did not have any other case of cheating in the region, except the prison,” said provincial director of education Patrick Nyagosia.

By Reported by Francis Mureithi, Benson Amadala, Muchiri Karanja, Henry Nyarora, Mwakera Mwajefa, Philemon Suter and Walter Menya