For the last few years, KNEC has been doing a lot to curb cheating in schools in national exams e.g not allowing anyone in school except principal (center manager) and deputies, ensuring the school gates are wide open between 8AM and 4PM, punishing center managers found in irregularity severely, transferring invigilators and supervisors, having two exams per day to avoid early exam exposure, no extra exam questions, among many other measures.
KNEC has closed all the loopholes of exam cheating between the container and exam center, but they have done little with what really happens at the exam room.
2015 was the worst KCSE in Kenya. KCSE question papers were used to wrap meat in butcheries. That time, problem was with KNEC themselves, not the people manning the exam room.
A deputy president can never be impeached without the go ahead from the President. Well, exam cheating can never happen in a school without the rubber stamp of the principal.
Truth be told, some principals are honest, very honest. They prefer honest results. They improve genuinely and drop genuinely. Others improve miraculously from 4 to 9 then drop miserably from 9 to 3.
Cheating has shifted from exam leakage by KNEC to institutional collusion where some principals, through supervisors and invigilators, help students do the exam.
Some principals bribe supervisors, invigilators and security personnel with substantial amounts of money, ensuring they turn a blind eye to the cheating happening in exam rooms.
After the official opening of exam papers, some are secretly taken out of the examination rooms to undisclosed locations. Here, subject teachers, waiting in anticipation, quickly work out the answers. Copies of these answers are made and hurriedly smuggled back into exam rooms by compromised invigilators and supervisors, often hidden inside their clothing.
During this process, students pass the time in the exam rooms by repeatedly flipping through their papers. They only begin writing towards the end of the exam period when the answers arrive. Some candidates write their own answers using pencils so that when the real answers come they can easily erase and write the correct ones.
All this time, several hawk eyed people are placed in strategic positions from the subcounty offices up to school gate so that whenever a GK vehicle is seen heading towards the direction of the school, the principal is informed and normalcy is brought and as soon as the GK vehicle leaves the school, cheating continues. Collusion in exams requires alot of organisation, preparation and money, lots of money. It doesn’t involve principal and supervisor only, it involves principal, deputy, teachers, cooks, watchmen, parents, invigilators, supervisors, students and sometimes even subcounty directors and county directors who have interests in that school. Cheating is like a cartel with deep roots and broad branches.
In schools where cheating is rampant, students become emboldened. They show little fear to the consequences and may even confront supervisors and invigilators who attempt to intervene, making it difficult for honest officials to maintain order.
Some TSC officers responsible for deploying exam officials are also implicated, often influenced by the wealth and power of these corrupt principals. This is evident when uncooperative supervisors and invigilators are swiftly replaced by those more willing to accept bribes.
Here are some reasons why schools cheat in KCSE:
1. Principals’ promotions are frequently based on their schools’ performance in national exams. To climb the ranks and be classified as senior or chief principals, some resort to cheating.
2. Bribes from exam personnel and the monetary rewards associated with good grades serve as strong incentives.
3. Schools and teachers strive for fame, wanting to be seen as top performers. Even if a class is weak, cheating is used to maintain high performance.
4. Titles such as Principal of the Year (POYA) or Teacher of the Year (TOYA) are often pursued at all costs, fueling the pressure to cheat.
5. Some teachers are products of academic malpractice themselves, making cheating a normalized practice for them.
6. Parents often finance cheating networks, pushing principals and teachers for better results.
7. Expectations are high.
8. Results attract population, population attract funds and funds attract infrastructure. For a school to be considered ‘big’ it must have good results and many students. This pushes Principals to do anything humanly possible to get the results.
Here are some measures that will help reduce cheating in national exams in Kenya:
1. Exam results should no longer be a primary factor in promoting principals.
2. Principals found aiding cheating should lose their leadership positions.
3. Teachers involved in cheating should not only be dismissed but also deregistered by TSC.
4. Cancel the results of cheating candidates to send a strong message.
5. KNEC should introduce a reward system for examiners who expose cheating at marking centres.
6. Supervisors and security personnel should be swapped daily during the exam period to close potential loopholes.
7. CCTV cameras to be mandatory in schools. Live images to be monitored from a central place while the students are doing KCSE inside the exam room.
8. The students who are found cheating to wait for three years before doing the national exam again and their certificates to have a seal of exam irregularity.
9. Supervisors and invigilators to be paid well and immediately.
