Will Matiang’i’s exam reforms stand the test?

 

The smooth end to the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education must have brought great relief to examiners last week. But now comes the bigger challenge: How to secure the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education that kicks off today.

KCSE is bigger, and stretches for a longer period than the three-day KCPE. Besides that, the challenge of the charged political environment presents myriad challenges considering that some of the voting centres are education institutions and the compromised security situation in some of the areas of the country. 

But that should be no reason to not guarantee that the exam is free from cheating. Exam-cheating that pervaded previous years did not happen in 2016 as Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i sought to restore the credibility in national exams.

Commendably, Dr Matiang’i went about dismantling the cartels that for far too long had hijacked the education sector. No doubt, exam-cheating undermines years of hard work and sacrifice put in by parents, teachers and students. Cheating kills the wonderful spirit of competition and undermines the trust in merit.

This year’s exercise is therefore a test of whether Matiangi’s transformative agenda has taken root. Will it stand? We wish all KCSE candidates the best.