TSC warns on exams cheating

Teachers Service Commission CEO Nancy Macharia. [Willis Awandu/Standard]

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has stepped up the multi-urgency push against cheating in the 2018 national examinations just a week after a strong team to coordinate the exercise was launched.

Chief Executive Nancy Mancharia yesterday wrote to all the 300,000-plus teachers directing them to immediately start preparations to administer the examinations with esteem vigilance and precision.

In a circular to all secondary school principals, primary school head teachers and classroom staff dated August 10, Macharia said there was no room for error in the running of the examinations. “TSC relies on all teachers to ensure the successful completion of the forthcoming national examinations,” Macharia said in the statement entitled Integrity of National Examinations. 

“However, your efforts in moulding the candidates and the enormous investments by parents, Government and other stakeholders in this regard may not come to fruition if the integrity of the national examinations is not safeguarded,” she added.

Under new rules introduced two years ago, school heads act as centre managers who also pick up examination question papers and return answer sheets after the end of each day’s tests.

 “You will play a crucial role in ensuring that the rules, regulations and guidelines governing the conduct of national examinations are strictly adhered to by all stakeholders,” Macharia told the school heads. She warned teachers that they have a special duty to maintain, uphold and promote professionalism in the teaching service, including ensuring that examinations are credible. “We must guarantee that national examinations are conducted in a transparent and accountable manner in accordance with set standards and international best practices,” she wrote.

She urged the teachers to “remain vigilant during this examination period, maintain the ethics governing the teaching profession and ensure that any form of examinations irregularity is detected and forestalled”.

She asked the teachers to take appropriate action to remedy any form of cheating in line with relevant laws and regulations.