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National Assembly Education Committee Chairperson Julius Melly has said it is not always the fault of the learner that cheating happens during national exams.
Melly spoke on Tuesday during an interview with Citizen TV.
“The learners is quite innocent in this. The culprits here are teachers and principals who want promotions, the parents who want their children to go to a big national school,” Melly said.
He added that the stature in society where the principal and the school are under immense pressure from the board of management to perform or they risk being transferred also encourages exam manipulation.
“You are a principal of a prestigious school, you are not performing, therefore your job is at stake. So you will go an extra mile to prove to these people that you are a performer,” he said.
“The teacher will tamper with the integrity of the exam by inviting examiners, bringing motivational fee, turning a blind eye, compromising invigilators and supervisors to attain a wrong goal.”
Melly’s sentiments come in as Form Four candidates across the country are sitting for their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exams.
The candidates started their KCSE on Monday with practical papers. 903,260 candidates have been registered for this year’s KCSE.
The candidates shall sit their practical papers the entire week untill Friday, October 27.
The practical exams include orals for French, German, Arabic, Kenya Sign Language and music.
Home Science students will do their practicals between October 30 and 31.
From November 1, candidates will sit for several exams in the morning, including French (Listening Comprehension, dictation, and Creative Writing), Braille, German, Arabic, Arabic, Large print, Kenyan Sign Language (Receptive Skills), and Music.
The KCSE exams will end on November 24 with Physics practicals.
Following the announcement of the 2022 KCSE exams earlier this year, allegations of exam malpractice were rife.
The National Assembly Education Committee then moved to probe the allegations on January 27.
The committee found that exam malpractices in the 2022 KSCE included collusion to share answers, use of mobile phones in exam rooms, impersonation, smuggling of unauthorised written material, leakage, and plagiarism among other techniques.
Currently, Knec is working to ensure there will be no cases of malpractice in the 2023 national exams.
BY LINDWE DANFLOW