Let us safeguard integrity of national examinations
Candidates write their KCPE exams at Wabera Primary School on March 22, 2021. Education officials in Meru were Sunday still look for 933 KCPE candidates who failed to resume learning when schools reopened following the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.
What you need to know:
- Last year, 1,388,987 and 699,746 candidates sat the KCPE and KCSE exams, respectively, while in 2018 there were 1,060,787 and 663,811.
- Stiff competition for limited slots in public secondary schools and universities has made many parents, teachers students and other stakeholders to fall to the temptation of engaging in exam cheating.
The examination season is here with us again. Since yesterday, 1,088,986 and 699,745 candidates, respectively, are expected to sit the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) national exams. Notably, most of the KCSE candidates commence their exams on Thursday.
Despite the prolonged school closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which made some learners drop out of school over early pregnancy, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, drug and substance abuse, extreme poverty, economic recession and other reasons, the candidates were said to be ready.
Last year, 1,388,987 and 699,746 candidates sat the KCPE and KCSE exams, respectively, while in 2018 there were 1,060,787 and 663,811.
Several years ago, cheating and other malpractices in the exams were rampant. However, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has assured exam officials, parents, teachers and students that cheating is now in the past.
And, true, cheating has declined in the past few years. Needless to mention, the examiner, Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec), as well as the police, heads of schools, supervisors and invigilators were previously accused of condoning and even abetting cheating, hence damning indictment of our education system.
Deeply entrenched
Stiff competition for limited slots in public secondary schools and universities has made many parents, teachers students and other stakeholders to fall to the temptation of engaging in exam cheating. If previous statistics of cancellation of exam results due to cheating are anything to go by, it seems that this abhorrent culture is deeply entrenched in our society.
Every year, indolent and gullible students and parents are conned by unscrupulous and dishonest people in the name of buying test papers. In 2018, for instance, Teachers Service Commission (TSC) summarily dismissed 17 teachers for engaging in exam irregularities in both KCPE and KCSE.
Prof Magoha has warned of dire consequences for teachers, parents, supervisors and invigilators who collude with students to cheat this year. Cheating should not be condoned in a civilised society like ours. The perpetrators of this retrogressive and heinous act must face the full force of the law.
It is in the public interest that professional ethics and moral conduct be employed during these exams. Integrity in national exams goes a long way to foster moral values in the candidates. Moreover, it acts as a deterrent against corruption, which the government is grappling with. The dragon can be traced to lack of integrity in our national exams.
Integrity in exams — national or end-of-term, continuous assessment tests (CATs) or quizes — must be jealously guarded lest our country continues to churn out half-baked graduates bereft of integrity. The time to prevent exam malpractices is now.
