New policy to curb cheating laudable

Examination leakages in Kenya are a disease that has left many students and parents hurt and confused, especially at the height of it in 2015.

The vice had overwhelmingly been blamed on rampant corruption in the education sector since the highly complex illegal syndicate involves exchange of huge amounts of money. I would want to equate it to the crisis of elephant and rhino poaching by an organised criminal syndicate, which has proved difficult to stop since it is a lucrative business.

There is no single silver bullet that will stop poaching and examination cheating. In order to control it, three-pronged approaches have been identified and are showing good results. They are ‘stop the killing’, ‘stop the trafficking’ and ‘stop the demand’.

This strategy should be replicated in the case of examinations leakage. Stop the leakage at the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC), check on the distribution of the leaked examination papers by the public and stop demand by students, parents and teachers.

It is unfortunate that recent policy guidelines by Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i have been condemned from some quarters. I do not blame the public for they are doing this from an un-informed point.

We must appreciate the perspective and stop overreacting, and instead, think of an indelible solution to this problem that could stain Kenya’s profile internationally. I guess the Cabinet Secretary must have been guided by experts and consulted before making such an announcement. I wholly support Dr Matiang’i; he is on the right track.

Friends School Kamusinga, where I serve as the Chairman of the Board of Management, has been implementing this policy guideline since 2012.

The school management and parents unanimously agreed that there will be no visiting days during third term by parents and relatives. Secondly, since the school is built on a strong Christian faith and solid Sunday worships the parents also agreed not to attend the infamous prayers day, which was not there before in old days.

Today, prayers day is attended by students, teachers, school’s non-teaching staff, Parents-Teachers Association and School Board of Management.

The school settled on this firm stand informed by the fact that although there were no cases of examination cheating, the principal and teachers felt that it was a headache clearing the mess left behind by some parents which in one way or another, would affect students’ performance in examinations.

For instance, some parents used to leave behind mobile phones, bring all sorts of examination papers including some witchcraft materials to their sons with the belief that they would make them perform better in the national exams.

These ended up confusing the well prepared students. Some of the good and promising students who were victims ended up not doing well since the examination papers were fake. The school has continued to do (very) well and no cases of examination cheating have ever been reported.

The candidates of Friends School Kamusinga earn their marks through hard work and perform so well when they join university in their respective courses. It is encouraging that quite a number of schools have adopted the same strategy, and they are thriving.

Finally, there is need to work with the security agents to enhance law enforcement and apprehend and prosecute those that are involved in the syndicate.

Awareness creation among the public, parents and students is also crucial and people should be willing to support the ministry to crack down by volunteering the information.

The education sector had been on the wrong footing and suffered greatly and thanks to the CS for being pro-active.