TSC summons principals and teachers over exam cheating

Last year's KCSE candidates at Chebuyusi Secondary School in Bungoma County.

Six secondary school principals are among teachers summoned to appear before disciplinary panels next week.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is keen to crack the whip on cases related to last year’s irregularities that led to the cancellation of Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results of 1,200 candidates.

The teachers, among them six principals, will face TSCpanels on September 25 and 26, according to letters seen by Saturday Standard.

Lined-up witnesses

Investigations show that at least 20 teachers and more than 50 witnesses have been lined up for the cases, which affected candidates from nine schools. They include supervisers and invigilators who manned the examinations.

Saturday Standard has learnt that the TSC was planning to dispense with the cases ahead of the 2018 national examinations, whose theory papers will start on October 30, 2018.

Already, the commission has dispensed with disciplinary procedures for 20 other teachers whose cases had been processed by April this year.

The disciplinary cases come two months after the TSCinterdicted 26 staff – among them principals, supervisors and invigilators – in a move to dispense with the cases before the October national examination season.

Six of those interdicted were principals of secondary schools that accounted a large part of the 1,022 candidates whose results were cancelled in 2018.

Four others were supervisors in the schools, while 13 were invigilators.

In total, TSC CEO Nancy Macharia said, 60 teachers faced interdiction over last year’s KCSE.

“We are determined to finalise the process of investigating the cases before this year’s national examinations,” she said in June. Saturday Standard has also established that all the affected teachers late last month received letters inviting them to the disciplinary hearing.

The teachers will be given a chance to give their side of the story regarding the allegations leveled against them, before witnesses are lined up to counter their evidence.

At Chebuyusi Secondary School, Principal Boniface Okoth and two Chemistry teachers were interdicted. Results of 190 candidates were cancelled following reported massive collusion during Biology Paper 1 and Chemistry Paper 3.

In Makueni’s Barazani Girls, the former principal was interdicted over reported collusion during Chemistry Paper 3, leading to the cancellation of results for 96 candidates in the centre. The supervisorand a Chemistry teacher at the school were also interdicted 

In Kisii County, the principal of Mokubo Secondary School and the supervisor were interdicted.

The school’s deputy principal and two other local Education ministry officials and all the 10 invigilators have been warned over negligence of duty. There was reported massive collusion during English Paper 2 and Chemistry Paper 3, leading to cancellation of results for 204 candidates at Mokubo.

At Chalbi Boys High School in Marsabit County, Principal Boya Paul Halake was interdicted for negligence of duty.

The supervisor was also interdicted for allegedly colluding with the principal and invigilators to allocate extra time for candidates, against examination rules. The four invigilators were warned.

Early this year, students of the school, mainly repeaters, beat up “non-local” teachers on claims that they were behind results cancellation after “reporting the collusion to the Kenya National Examinations Council”.

Massive collusion

At the school, Knec said it found massive collusion during English Paper 2 and Physics Paper 1, leading to cancellation of results for 70 candidates in the centre

At St Cecilia Girls in West Pokot, Knec investigations reported another massive collusion during English Paper 2, Biology Paper 2 and Physics Paper 1, leading to cancellation of results for 320 candidates in the centre. After investigations, nine invigilators were warned administratively for negligence of duty for not being vigilant during administration of the exams. 

“Students managed to talk to each other, received assistance from each other and had unauthorised material in the form of tissue paper in the examination room which the students used to circulate the responses among themselves,” a TSC report says.

There was massive collusion during English Paper 2 and Physics Paper 1 leading to cancellation of results for 162 candidates at the centre.

Additionally, two deputy centre managers, two supervisors and 16  invigilators received warning letters over negligence of duty.