Safeguard the integrity of national examinations

Top government officials have been deployed to various parts of the country to monitor the ongoing national exams, which kicked off yesterday.

A sizeable number of security forces have also been taken off their routine duties and deployed to schools. It is also reported that President William Ruto and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua will be involved in the monitoring exercise which also includes Cabinet Secretaries.

This multi-agency approach has been employed since 2016 with quite a high degree of success in keeping examination irregularities at a minimum.

Eventually, our national exams are respectable once more and give a reliable measure of candidates’ academic abilities. It took time and effort to stem runaway cheating that had totally discredited our education system. In the global economy, we can ill afford questionable academic qualifications. It would hurt our children and their future. 

It is, therefore, vital to continuing this trend. As a country, we have struggled with integrity in other spheres of life and cannot afford to slide back to the shameful days of cheating. The deterrent measures in place to punish those who breach the integrity of exams should be upheld until the vice is completely eliminated. 

However, there is hope that the school-based formative assessments model of the competency-based curriculum will eliminate the cut-throat competition of the 8-4-4 that has largely been blamed for cheating in examinations. Whereas CBC isn’t the panacea to lack of integrity, it is important to embrace value-based learning while the children are in their formative years. 

While the high-profile deployment is welcome, the monitoring should be done in a manner that does not intimidate the candidates. The presence of unexpected high-profile dignitaries can unnerve the children and affect their performance. 

Additionally, the monitoring exercise shouldn’t be used as an avenue for government officials to collect allowances without giving value for money. Taxpayers’ resources must be reasonably spent. It would be prudent that such officials aren’t paid before the teachers, security officers and drivers who oversee and mark the examinations but always wait for months before being paid.