Cases of cheating drop by 71 per cent

The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) cancelled results for 1,309 candidates who were involved in cheating

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha said cases of examination irregularities had reduced drastically compared to 4,519 cases recorded last year to reflect a 71 per cent drop.

“Arising from these failed cases, we are cancelling individual results for 1,309 candidates who were involved in the various forms of cheating,” said Prof Magoha, while releasing results for KCSE 2019 at Knec headquarters in Nairobi, yesterday.

The students involved were found with mobile phones and other unauthorised materials. A total of 667,222 candidates sat this year’s KCSE examinations.

Prof Magoha attributed the reduced cheating cases to enhanced measures put in place.

“I wish to state that we have now stamped out the overt cases of cheating that were rampant in our education ecosystem,” he said, adding that the success was as a result of combined efforts of the multi-agency government monitoring team.

Impersonators

The CS, however, regretted that there has also been an increase in sophisticated and covert forms of cheating such as the use of mobile phones.

He noted that about 100 mobile phones were seized from various examination centres, with 35 found in one centre in Eastleigh, Nairobi.

Magoha further said that there were cases of impersonators. He said: “In Kisii, we apprehended more than 10 impersonators who had connived with unscrupulous people to produce fake photo albums to give the impression they were genuinely Knec registered candidates.”

Some individuals were also arrested for attempting early exposure of examination papers among others ills.

The CS disclosed that they have withheld results for 658 candidates for routine checks on small details, including accuracy of their names and registration details, and promised to release the results as soon as the verification is completed.

A total of 1,309 students had their examination results cancelled; 101 were found with unauthorised materials, 47 had mobile phones, two were impersonators, 1,158 for collusion and one for causing disturbance.

Last year, 4,519 candidates had their results cancelled: 142 had unauthorised materials, 20 were found with mobile phones, 4,355 for impersonation and one for causing disturbance.