Reshuffle to stop cheating in KCPE and KCSE

A major reshuffle awaits thousands of supervisors who will oversee this year’s national examinations.

This came as reports emerged that some of the supervisors could be colluding with teachers to steal tests.

The Standard has established that one of the proposals under review, by the exams agency, is to have teachers supervise exams outside their home sub-county.

This will be a major break from the past where sub-county directors of education assign teachers to supervise examinations in schools within their regions.

This means county education bosses will assign supervision staff under their jurisdiction.

It is understood that this is one of the major steps under consideration to protect the credibility of Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams due in a few months.

School heads will remain centre managers and supervisors will continue to oversee examinations process in all centres.

The Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) has registered 1.7 million candidates to sit this year’s examinations.

Of these, 1,060,787 have been registered for KCPE while 663,811 will sit KCSE.

All staff will also be required to wear official budges during the examinations period as it emerged some schools retain ‘unwanted persons’ within their compounds.

This came as it emerged some parents and school heads are colluding to collect money to compromise this year’s exams.

Knec’s acting CEO Mercy Karogo allayed fears raised by some on exam preparedness.

“The council wishes to state that as has been the case in the past two years, all measures have been put in place to ensure exam materials are safe and that no one will breach our enhanced security mechanisms at any stage,” said Karogo.

In a statement, Karogo advised parents, candidates and other stakeholders not to be duped into purchasing any materials purported to be examination questions.

“Parents are advised not to fall prey to schemes by unscrupulous people to fleece unsuspecting Kenyans,” said Karogo.

Stakeholders meeting

Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed will today chair a stakeholders meeting to assess preparedness for the examinations.

The meeting, to be held at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, will bring together top county education officials and security teams.

“The council wishes to reiterate that all measures have been put in place to ensure credible examinations to guarantee regional and international recognition of certificates awarded,” said Ms Karogo.

KCPE exam will be from October 30 to November 1. Rehearsals for the three-day examination are planned for October 29.

KCSE exam will be from November 2-28, starting with Mathematics and Chemistry.