Signs of beneficiaries of exams cheating in the workplace

No sooner had the education CS finished announcing this year's results than Kenyans jammed the social media. While some had congratulatory messages for the education CS, others displayed their dismay at the turn of events that seemed to indicate that students have all along been cheating.

 According to this year's Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education results, only 141 students scored A plain compared to 2,636 who scored the same grade last year's exam. Only 88,929 thousand students scored C+ against 398,116 realised in 2015. 

These results point to a deeply entrenched system of cheating that had infiltrated our education sector. But perhaps it is the pronouncement by Dr. Fred Matiang’i that our current problems in education and other sectors may have their roots in exam cheating that amplifies the magnitude of this issue.

 Indeed, a workforce that is drawn from students who cheated in exams cannot be relied upon to sufficiently and effectively serve the welfare of a society. Workers who exhibit ineptitude at work, don't take assignments seriously, have poor customer care skills, workers who don't make work plans and engage in perennial strikes are all products of a botched system of education riddled with cheating.

Signs of exams cheats in our society have been there for all to see only that we had chosen to ignore them.

Haven't we heard of lawyers who fleece their customers or, who due to laziness, fail to appear in court whenever their client's cases are being heard? Haven't we heard of doctors under whose watch patients die due to negligence? Many other workers who don't observe due diligence when executing their duties may have passed exams thanks to cheating. Legislators are no exception. MPs who would rather pour water on each other rather than debate are definitely beneficiaries of exam cheating syndicate. If you find an employee who asks whether passion pays bills then don't look elsewhere for exam cheats of yesteryears. 

Another issue which the CS appeared to single out, albeit cautiously, was the fact that by previous exams having condoned cheating, places meant for the poor children might have been given to the rich with deep pockets to buy grades. 

Having ignored and stifled talents in our kids, this country mainly uses performance in exams to determine how to designate its citizens and accord them their stations in life. Whoever wants to be a great man or woman has education as the only leveler that can see him/her actualize their dreams.

 As I have argued in the past, Meritocracy in national examinations give students from humble backgrounds, deemed outsiders of our capitalist society a chance to face off with unbridled conditions of those from privileged families. Therefore failure to guard against theft of this precious opportunity given to the downtrodden to break off from the circle of poverty is the worst form of oppression any regime can mete out on its citizens.

 As we commend Dr. Matiang’i for the good results, who will take responsibility for many deserving young men and women who were unlawfully denied entrance into universities? The net effect of having denied right people places universities is that we have missed out on innovators, thinkers who would have transformed our society.

Like any other social sectors this country, education has for long been assumed to belong in the hands of a few. In fact, it had been conceived as a limited resource accessed only by the rich.

 That is why some national secondary schools charge higher school fees compared to universities. The rich who target "elite" private primary schools are keen to have their kids "perform" well and join prestigious national public schools from where their tickets to prestigious universities are assured. 

Further, KNEC had formed a habit of exclusively picking teachers from big schools as examiners and markers. No teacher from mixed secondary school had a chance to attend exclusive parties in the city dubbed setting and marking of exams. Groping in the dark without the slightest idea what will be asked in exams, students from these mixed schools had to contend with what was served to them by the big schools. Taking advantage of this situation, big schools could take more than 300 students to universities under Joint Admission Board yet the best student in these mixed schools could only afford a Teachers Training College (TTC) slot. That is how grave the issue of examination management has been. Yet we crowned all this dishonesty and thievery by celebrating the cheats and demonizing the genuine ones. Those who have been eating poor student's lunch must be named and shamed.