KCSE 2024 exams cheating: Results for 840 candidates cancelled, 2,829 withheld as 91 teachers face disciplinary action

Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) Chief Executive Officer David Njeng’ere.

Education Cabinet Secretary, CS, Julius Migos Ogamba has said the results of 840 KCSE candidates have been cancelled due to examination irregularities.

Speaking when he released the results for the 2024 exams, Ogamba added that 2829 results are withheld pending investigations, which will be completed in 30 days from January 9.

Ogamba regretted that some teachers are still facilitating exam irregularities.

“It is unfortunate that a few contracted professionals and teachers are still insistent on ruining the lives of our learners by subjecting them to exam malpractices,” he said.

Ogamba added that firm disciplinary actions will be taken against 91 contracted professionals who were reported to have been involved in aiding exam malpractices.

A total of 962,512 candidates sat for the exams which ran from October 22 to November 22, 2024.

In November 2024, Ogamba assured parents, students and teachers that the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) would no longer cancel entire centres’ national exam results if malpractice is detected.

He said the examiner will handle cheating cases on an individual basis to ensure that no collateral damages are incurred.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to report that we put in place very serious measures to the extent that this year if there is any malpractice, we are not going to condemn the whole school, center, or number of people who are there. It is going to be individualised,” the CS said

In 2023, KNEC withheld the KCSE results of more than 4,000 students over alleged irregularities and cancelled the results of four candidates over impersonation.

“There were no irregularities reported during the exams but there were people who impersonated others,” former Education CS Ezekiel Machogu said in January 2024.

Following investigations into the cases, KNEC released the results of Kisii’s Cardinal Otunga Boys (432 students) and Nyakongo Secondary School (263 students) which had been withheld.

Other schools that were affected included Mabera Secondary School in Migori and Samoei Secondary School in Nandi.

Then, the CS confirmed that 120 contracted professionals reportedly engaged in irregularities and vowed disciplinary action against them.