‘Fake’ papers on sale countrywide ahead of national exams.Drive Hot News

Education Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi (right) with Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang and Knec chairman Kabiru Kinyanjui at a past event. Examination papers believed to be those candidates will sit from Tuesday are selling openly in various parts of the country. FILE PHOTO

Examination papers believed to be those candidates will sit from Tuesday are selling openly in various parts of the country.

The Kenya National Examination Council Thursday announced that some centres in Garissa, Kisii, Oyugis, Nyamira, Rongo and Eastleigh in Nairobi had been earmarked as cheating hot-spots.

This came as a 21-year-old Kenyatta University student was arrested last evening in Manga, Nyamira County with “exam” papers loaded onto a flash disk.

Knec security officials who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the exam malpractice said the student will be arraigned this morning.

Extra security personnel and Knec officials are also being dispatched to the areas to ensure cheating does not happen.

Knec dismissed as “fake” any papers selling in the streets and warned of dire consequences for anyone found engaging in the scam.

A number of “fake” exam papers have already been confiscated in the areas even as Knec said distribution of next week’s test papers to armouries across the country starts today.

Security officials have been deployed in the regions, although Knec did not confirm if any other arrests had been made so far.

Acting council secretary Joseph Kivilu said that the Form Four examination will start on Tuesday, with 485,547 candidates in 8,211 examination centres writing the tests.

They will be served by 828 distribution centres.

Exam results of 3,353 candidates from 36 national and county schools were cancelled because they cheated in the Form Four exams last year.

The schools were also not ranked because the administrators failed to report the cheating to Knec.

The institutions were in Siaya, Meru, Nairobi, Tana River, Wajir, Homa Bay, Kisii, Nyandarua, Migori, Kisumu, Busia, Narok, Nandi and Mandera counties.

There are 31 subjects to be tested this year, with candidates required to sit for a minimum of seven and a maximum of nine subjects.

Council acting chief executive officer Joseph Kivilu said the distribution will be carried out under security surveillance. The national examiner admitted that fake examination papers were now in circulation ahead of the start of the national examination.

“The dispatch of the examination papers and other examination materials to over 1,000 distribution centres across the country will be carried out weekly. These centres are mainly police armories and chief’s camps,” said Dr Kivilu during a media briefing at Knec offices in Nairobi.

WEEKLY BASIS

He added that for all regions except Nairobi and Mombasa municipality, the examination will be distributed on a weekly basis to the district headquarters where they will be received by district education officers for further dispatch to distribution centres.

“The supervisors will pick the papers for the day from distribution centres and keep them in the examination room to ensure their safety,” said Dr Kivilu.

He further disclosed that monitoring of the examination will be done by officers from Knec, Ministry of Education, Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development and the Teachers Service Commission, among other stakeholders.

Dr Kivilu said that Knec had taken all steps necessary to ensure the smooth running and credibility of the examinations.

He said guidelines had been issued on timetables, security of examination papers and examination ethics for all head teachers.

Others include instructions for the conduct of all candidates and on the use of mobile phones in an examination centre.

He added that orals and practicals in foreign language and home science examinations started on September 29, while theory papers begun on October 14 and will run up to November 7.

He said for this year’s KCPE examination rehearsals start on November 3, the first paper starts on November 4 and the examination ends on November 6.

Dr Kivilu said the examination will be administered to 889,107 KCPE candidates who will sit for the examination in 24,278 examination centres that will be served by 1,056 distribution centres.

“The examination will test seven subjects in nine papers,” he said.

The council acting chief executive officer added that in case of a national strike by teachers, the council will adjust accordingly saying that they were prepared for any eventuality.

The council has also barred candidates sitting for this year’s national examination from using clipboards in the examination as has been the tradition.

Council head of research and quality assurance Joyce Sabari said investigations had revealed that most candidates were using the clipboards for cheating.

“The answer sheet that we are providing to candidates is big enough and therefore candidates will not be allowed to carry clipboards any more,” said Ms Sabari.

She also said that candidates will not be allowed to carry mathematical tables and calculators except during mathematics paper.
“Some candidates do even carry the mathematical tables and calculators for Kiswahili and English papers yet those subjects do not require such tools,” said Ms Sabari.

Dr Kivilu said that the council had engaged the service of 134,435 contracted professionals to manage KCPE while and 52,997 professionals would manage KCSE examinations.

“We have 24,283 supervisors, 55,505 invigilators, 48,576 security personnel and 6,071 drivers for KCPE while 8,188 supervisors and 27,874 invigilators, 14,936 security personnel and 1,999 drivers for KCSE,” said Dr Kivilu.

MAY NOT SIT FOR EXAM

However, several candidates may not sit for the examination until they pay for the examination with those sitting for KCPE having until November 3 while KCSE have until Friday.

At the same time, the council yesterday raised an alarm over fake examination papers that are now in circulation ahead of the start of the main national examination on Tuesday and cautioned candidates against being duped.

“There those who have already printed fake papers and are on sale between sh50, 000 and sh200, 000 a set. Some of these papers have been intercepted by the council,” said the council acting chief executive officer.

Dr Kivilu further disclosed that the council had established that there were also candidates who were already collecting money in preparation for buying examination papers.

He added that university and college students are playing major role in exacerbating these irregularities.

“We are going on with our investigations in various parts of the country and once we are done the suspects will be taken to court,” said Dr Kivilu.

However, he said no suspect had been arrested so far in connection with the printing and selling fake examination papers.

Dr Kivilu said that action will be taken against those who engage in irregularities as per the Knec Act.

More than 1.4million candidates will be sitting for the 2014 national examination across the country.
Beside the KCPE and KCSE examination, the council will also be administering three other examinations in November and December this year and which include Business, technical and early childhood development education examinations.

He said the field administration of the business and technical will run from Novemvber 12 to 21 with the examination being administered to 15,224 candidates in 180 examination centres that will be served by 117 distribution centres.

The technical examination will be administered to 25,699 candidates in 240 examination centres served from 120 distribution centres with 1,861 contracted professional being involved in the field administration of these examinations.

ECDE examination will be administered to 43,185 candidates in 1,263 examination centres in an examination that will take place from December 8 to 11.