By Benedict Ng’etich
Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang has said the Ministry of Education has sealed all the national examination cheating loopholes.
Speaking at Lesirwo High school in Kipkelion West, during the Sub County Education Day, he said the ministry had dealt with and eliminated cartels that were involved in leaking exams.
Kipsang said the ministry was prepared to protect the integrity of exams at all cost and told those still willing to tamper with examinations that they will face the law.
The PS said they have scaled up its multi-agency approach of examination administration in a bid to ensure no breach in the already laid down security measures.
This comes after unsubstantiated reports that education cartels were wooing schools and parents, with assurances that they will be able to provide examination materials before the due date.
The sub county education forum was attended by the County Director of Education Frederick Osewe and Members of Parliament Joseph Limo (Kipkelion East) and Hilary Kosgei (Kipkelion West)
A total of 1.6 million students have registered for this year’s national examination, with 964,199 having been registered to sit the Kenya certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and 631,750 registered for the Kenya certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).
Former Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has been hailed for leading a drastic crackdown of cartels that used to trade examination materials.
This included reducing the number of days the exams are marked. The number of students attaining an A grade has also drastically gone down.
This was attributed to the massive examination malpractices, involving school teachers, crooked KNEC officials and security officers manning the papers.
In 2017, only 142 students attained grade A in the Kenya Certificate for Secondary Education.
In 2016, some 141 students attained grade A, in KCSE.
