2024 KCSE cheats offered chance to retake exams after results cancellation

Parents and teachers try to access performance of the 2024 KCSE candidates after results were released. [File, Standard] The Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) has announced that students whose 2024 KCSE results were cancelled will be allowed to retake the exams in July 2025. The decision will benefit over 840 candidates whose results were nullified after investigations confirmed their involvement in malpractice during the 2024 KCSE examinations. Knec has also finalized investigations into the results of 2,829 candidates suspected of exam irregularities which saw the release of results of some schools whose results were withheld. However, at the same time, it could, meaning more candidates could be affected by examination cancellations. This decision to allow students found to engage in malpractice resit the examination just five months after the cancellation adjusts rules for students found to have engaged in malpractice. Previously, Knec imposed a two-year ban on candidates caught cheating. Former Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha in 2019 asked school head and district education officers, to enforce the rule to ban candidates found culpable of malpractice from sitting the national examinations for the next two years. However, the Knec Chief Executive David Njengere said the decision to relax the stringent rules was made with consideration for the limited time remaining before the final KCSE exams are administered. He urged those wishing to retake the exams to take advantage of the opportunity, noting that the last KCSE exams will be held in 2027. "I wish to remind the public that the last KCSE examination will be administered in 2027. Any person wishing to repeat fully or partially should take advantage of the remaining chances to do so," Njengere said. From 2028, KCSE exams will be replaced by assessments under the Competency-Based Curriculum. Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba announced the introduction of a mid-year KCSE exam series, starting in July 2025, to accommodate students who miss exams or wish to retake them. "Starting this year and following extensive stakeholder consultations, I wish to announce that Knec will introduce a mid-year series of the KCSE examination to be administered in July every year," Ogamba said. The CS added that adult candidates could also register for the July series exams.Stakeholders in the education sector had long criticized rigity of the national examinations, with some putting to question the extremes that saw ill candidates take examinations from hospitals. The July series exam also sits as part of wide changes the council has overhauled on the National examinations. This year, use also saw the use of individual serialised exam papers to determine the source of the malpractice and punish the culpable examiners or students. In previous instances, entire schools saw their exams cancelled after Knec investigations concluded that some centers were engaged in exam malpractices. In 2023, Knec withheld the KCSE results of more than 4,000 students over alleged irregularities and cancelled the results of four candidates over impersonation. Then CS Ezekiel Machogu, while releasing the results in January this year, confirmed that 120 contracted professionals reportedly engaged in irregularities and vowed disciplinary action against them. Two weeks later, however, Knec released the results of Kisii's Cardinal Otunga Boys (432 students) and Nyakongo Secondary School (263 students) which had been withheld. Other schools that were affected included Mabera Secondary School in Migori and Samoei Secondary School in Nandi.

2024 KCSE cheats offered chance to retake exams after results cancellation

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