Cast net wider to solve exam-cheating riddle

Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) appears to have a keen friendship with controversy. The examiner has stirred a fresh storm by canceling results and announced measures to tame KCPE and KCSE malpractice.

While the council has the right to protect its integrity, its latest resolve to impose a two-year ban on 1,171 suspected cheats missed the point. Despite punitive actions, failure by the council over the years to significantly reduce cheating is hard to sweep under the carpet by criminalising the Class of 2009.

Cheating candidates are a symptom of a deeper malaise.

Observers take exception with Knec’s resolve not because it is most punitive, but that it was selectively meted on candidates — mere end users — of intricate and well-connected rackets.

Examination cheating traditionally involves a wider conspiracy between crafty subject masters, some parents, invigilators, supervisors and overzealous head teachers. Often, these suspects are afforded a chance to defend themselves and only suffer interdiction at half pay.

Why won’t Knec share out the misery by punishing them all? There is no point in leaving accomplices free. Cancellation means the ministry is shutting the stable after the horse has bolted.

Finally, it wouldn’t hurt for parents and teachers to instill in students the value of integrity and health in fair competition. Exams are not a life or death matter. They are only one of the milestones n the path of life.