Nairobi — The Ministry of Education has put on notice national examination cheating abettors as the docket tightens preparations to ensure effective administration and assessment of the 2023 national examinations.
Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu urged all personnel who will take part in the national examinations to dispense their duties with utmost professionalism failure to which they will face the full wrath of the law.
"My ministry will ensure that appropriate action will be taken against officers who contravene the rules and regulations put in place. The Government will not spare any person found to be abetting cheating in examinations," he said.
The Education Boss asserted that the 2023 examination and assessment materials are safe and secure urging candidates and their guardians to desist from being involved in unethical activities towards cheating in examinations.
"I urge the public to be wary of unscrupulous individuals who would want to con and sell fake examination materials to unsuspecting candidates and parents/guardians," Machogu noted.
Cases of exam cheating or malpractice, especially in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) are reported almost every year.
This is a situation that has continued to taint the credibility of exams and certificates offered to students by the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC).
According to the experts, the security of the examinations starts from setting, and administering all the way to marking, with proposals made that practicing teachers should be exempted due to conflict of interest.
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In its preliminary findings, a parliamentary committee probing allegations of cheating during the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education administration accused the Kenya National Examination Council of actively facilitating examination leaks.
The committee also attributed cases of cheating to the pressure exerted on head teachers, by their employer, the Teachers Service Commission, to deliver good results so that they can be promoted.
Teachers who sought anonymity for fear of reprisals from authorities alleged that some national and private schools were notorious for buying examination papers from unscrupulous KNEC officials.
Machogu has maintained the KCSE 2022 administration was clean and that the Ministry of Education devised various mechanisms to curb cheating.
However, there have been concerns nationwide that KCSE examinations have been commercialized.
