Maurice K'aluoch
23 July 2008
Nairobi — Last Friday, students of Kuoyo Kochia Secondary School in Homa Bay District damaged their school after objecting to being frisked before entering the examination room.
They told their teachers that there was no reason for them to be frisked while their colleagues in other schools already had access to the mock papers.
Their argument was that failure to cheat in mock would mean students from other schools keep on shining.
But according to the teachers, there was no way they could bend the rules for the students and insisted that since mocks were meant to prepare them for Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination, all rules governing Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) set exams had to be adhered to.
Later, the students caused extensive damage to the school which principal Malaki Okeyo put at Sh1.5 million.
Prior to the incident at Kuoyo Kochia, several students in parts of Nyanza also triggered unrest and have being suspended. Investigations show that all is not well, even in schools perceived as calm.
Exams useless
Last week, a leading school in Suba District averted unrest over mock exams. The students were concerned that the mock papers they were expected to do were being peddled during the district sports day at a fee. They protested that it was wrong to be denied access to the exam papers while their colleagues in other schools had them.
Schools in neighbouring districts of Migori, Rongo, Rachuonyo and Nyando have also fallen victim to the mock bug.
Several principals who did not want to be named said time had come for them to reconsider the future of mock exams.
They claimed that some colleagues and teachers hell-bent on cheating always unsealed examination papers, photocopied them and gave them to students to revise ahead of the examinations.
The principals said this had always rendered mock examinations useless since it did not reflect the true picture of performance.
They added that tension during the mocks had also been fuelled by Knec headquarters who were known to use it as a parameter to gauge performance of students in the event of cheating.
"So many students therefore regard mocks on equal footing as the main KCSE and would wish to pass it at all costs," added one of the principals.
Several teams organising mocks across the districts are reviewing their positions in the wake of the dilemma caused by leakages.
Taken aback
The Homa Bay/Suba mock examination organising committee was supposed to have met in the wake of uproar caused by exam leakages.
Investigations show that principals are taken aback that whereas they do joint tests with various schools without any hitch, trouble starts on the onset of mocks.
Fr Peter Kirowo said at St Paul's Catholic Church in Homa Bay that the church should come out strongly and do something about the youths.
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