Fact Checker: Yes guardians can be locked up for exam cheating

Police guard a container used for storing exam papers in Kisumu Central where teachers collected practical exam papers last week. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

As national examinations begin throughout the country this week, the Government has made bold statements, warning against exam cheating.

More than one million students are writing their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam and another 664,587 the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) this year, and ministry of education officials are stressing the integrity of exams results.

“A school or a centre that will have been found to have exposed the exam before due time, we’ll it cease to be an examination centre and be a scene of crime,” said Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang at a recent workshop.

The Ministry of Education similarly warned that parents and teachers risk prison if caught up in cheating cases - stoking online debate over the legality of the government’s threats.

The legislative framework around national examination does indeed have specific provisions for prosecuting those found guilty of exam irregularities starting with the custodians of the exams who are sworn to secrecy.

According to Section 26 of the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) Act, 2012, “an officer, agent or staff who…does or omits to do any act in contravention of the oath of secrecy, commits an offence and is liable, upon conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or a fine not exceeding Sh1 million, or to both.”

This includes examination officials, invigilators, teachers and examiners in charge of examination resources between KNEC and the student.

According to section 27 a “person who, before or during an examination, has in his or her possession or under his or her control any examination paper or any part thereof, or any material or information purporting to relate to the contents of any paper or material for that examination, without lawful excuse, commits an offence and is liable, upon conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, or a fine not exceeding Sh2 million, or to both.”

A similar penalty will be meted out to those found to have assisted, negligently or willfully, a candidate in obtaining or gaining unauthorised possession of examination material.

An amendment through the KNEC (Amendment) Act 2016 however introduced an appeals procedure before nullification of examinations.

The Act established an Examinations Appeals Tribunal; an ad hoc tribunal made up of a minimum of four and maximum of six members appointed by the Cabinet Secretary and drawn from the Kenya Curriculum Development Council, Teachers Service Commission and a quality assurance officer from a public university.

The tribunal is charged with determining appeals arising from KCPE results within 30 days and those from KCSE results within 60 days ensuring the same is cleared before the commencement of the next registration process.