KCPE results vindicate sustained fight against rampant exam fraud

When he carried out a purge at the Kenya National Examinations Council in March, many lauded Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i for treading where demons fear to tread.

An investigation he ordered justified the fears of stakeholders that complicity, irregularities and illegitimate activities within Knec and the entire education fraternity had conspired to create fertile grounds for theft of examination papers.

And so gratifyingly, at the surprise release of the results of the 2016 Kenya Certificate of Primary School Examination (KCPE) yesterday, it was reported that not a single student missed his or her results this year due to cheating.

In his characteristic style, Dr Matiang'i sprung another surprise with the release of the results nearly a month early.

Some 952,445 candidates sat the KCPE exams this year, a marginally higher number than the 938,912 who sat in 2015. Also, there was gender parity because of those examined, 49 per cent were girls and 50 per cent boys. Going by the trends, it means both sexes have equal opportunity in education where initially, girls were disadvantaged.

Quite impressive also in the results is that among the 1,950 special needs cases, the one of them scored an impressive 421 compared to the highest overall score of 436 marks.

In 2015, some 2,709 pupils missed their results because of widespread cheating. Needless to say, cheating had ruined schools and killed the future of students whose results have had to be cancelled. Examination cheating undermines years of hard work and sacrifice put in by parents, teachers and students; it undermines the trust in merit; cheating kills the wonderful spirit of competing.

With education standards worryingly dropping, there needed to be a revolution in the administration of examinations. And  Matiang'i has delivered it.

Indeed, a compromised exam system tells a lot more: it speaks about an education system that glorifies grades rather than skills and knowledge; where rote learning is promoted in place of practical and logical application of skills and knowledge; where learning becomes an endless endeavour to pass exams and not to acquire critical thinking skills to solve practical problems in life and at the workplace; it also speaks of society where the end justifies the means at whatever cost.

As George Magoha, the chairman of the Kenya National Examinations Council noted, bad culture can destroy the best of strategies. Matiang'i's team has demonstrated that there is nothing too big or too hard for a determined group of people to accomplish.

The value and integrity of our education system must be restored at whatever cost. School children should be taught that hard work pays and likewise, it must be impressed upon them that shortcuts do not necessarily lead to success.

A tightened exam administration is one way of restoring the integrity of education.

The need to overhaul a curriculum that many agree is exam-oriented at the expense of other crucial aspects of learning, is another. In many ways, this will minimise the urgency to seek shortcuts to get better grades. Matiang'i owes it to Kenya to ensure that a planned overhaul is rolled out soon.