Amina: Schools involved in exam cheating will be shut down

The government has threatened to deregister schools that will be found engaging in cheating during this year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations.

Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed also cautioned school heads against soliciting for money from parents to ‘buy’ exam question papers.

Speaking at Eregi Teachers Training College in Kakamega County on Saturday, Ms Mohammed asked parents not to be duped into such schemes.

“We have put in place stern measures to ensure that there is no cheating in the forthcoming national exams,” said Ms Mohamed.

She said her ministry was working closely with the ministry of Interior, ICT and other security apparatus to control exam leakage and cheating.

STRICT SECURITY MECHANISMS

She said the ministry had improved internal systems at the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) through strict security mechanisms in test development, printing, packaging and dispatch of examination papers.

 “The council has also increased its staff to enhance efficiency,” she said. Ms Mohamed said in last year’s national examinations, ten schools were affected by cheating. She, however, expressed optimism that this year’s exams will not be affected.

The ministry visited all the 47 counties to understand issues affecting schools during exam period.

“We realised that some schools were allowing strangers in their compounds during exams. This time, we shall arrest anybody who is not authorised to be in school when candidates are sitting for their examinations,” she added.

The CS said her ministry would not condone cases where some teachers sneak into the school compounds to abet cheating. 

IMPROMPTU VISITS

She added: "Let it be known that those caught will face the full force of the law because we do not want our education system to be undermined,"

The CS promised to make impromptu visits to all examination centers to monitor examination progress.

She revealed that this year, the ministry had installed 40 new containers to reduce the distance by centre managers to pick and drop examination papers as a measure to eliminate cheating through cartels who take advantage of the movement of exam materials.

To stamp out cheating, school heads will witness the opening of examination scripts to ensure they are intact. They will also work with Knec officials to enforce examination rules. They will also witness the sealing of answer sheets besides ensuring that all unnecessary staff are kept from accessing school compounds during the exam period.

The 2018 KCPE exam will begin on October 29 and end on November 1, while the KCSE will take place between November 5 and November 30.