Govt to address exam cheating menace by end of March

Nairobi: The government will decisively address the problem of cheating in the administration of National Examinations by March, 30 2016, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Dr. Fred Matiang’i has said.

Dr. Matiang’i said that testing and measuring in examinations are important in an education system, saying they help to infer the abilities and proficiencies of students for career development and employment.

He said it was unfair and shameful for anybody to undermine the system by cheating.

“We cannot subject our children to such recklessness,” Dr. Matiang’i said in while speaking during the closing ceremony of an education conference for Catholic Private Educational Institutions Head Teachers and Directors Conference at Catholic University of Eastern Africa Friday.

The Cabinet Secretary, who was flanked by the Principal Secretary for Education, Dr. Belio Kipsang, also advised religious organisation against imposing incompetent head teachers on schools they sponsor.

He said a number of religious leaders insisted that the Teachers Service Commission appoints or retains incompetent teachers as school heads, saying they should recommend to TSC only those teachers who have capacity to effective school leadership.

“We cannot sacrifice performance at the altar of sponsorship,” Dr. Matiang’i observed, saying the religious organisations should not compromise standards on the basis of friendship.

The Cabinet Secretary urged the church to advise parents to take up the right parenting skills to help address drugs and alcoholism among children.

He clarified that bursary kitty the government sends to the Constituencies  should also benefit children in private schools and not just those in public schools.

The head of Education for Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, (KCCB) Bishop Maurice Muhatia Makumba thanked the government for streamlining the management of basic education institutions by barring the Kenya National Association of Parents from meddling in the appointment of member of the Boards of Management.