20 university students arrested over exam offences.Read more.....

 Kenya National Examination Council Chief Executive Officer Paul Wasanga addresses journalists at Knec offices in Nairobi on November 11, 2013 ahead of the start of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations.

20 university students have been arrested and charged in court in connection to examination offences committed during the ongoing KCSE exams.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Kenya National Examination Council CEO Paul Wasanga expressed concerns that university students are increasingly involved in examination cheating.

The students, 12 of whom are from Kisii University, allegedly sent extracts of questions to candidates after getting them from unscrupulous supervisors and teachers who opened the exam package, photocopied the exam paper and resealed it.

“A BOG teacher from Lwanda High School sent extracts of examination questions to some students from Kisii University,” said Mr Wasanga. “This begs the question once again of the morality level of such teachers and university students.”

Students from University of Nairobi, Egerton University, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Eldoret University and Kabianga University have also been arrested after facilitating cheating.

Mr Wasanga said that a student from a private institution, Mt Kenya University, had also been arrested for sending extracts of questions to some candidates in Embu County.

“As we battle with cheating in examination, it is unfortunate that most of the people perpetuating cheating are the teachers themselves who have been given the responsibility of ensuring integrity [during] national examinations,” he said.

KCPE SET TO BEGIN

Meanwhile, some 844,530 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education candidates will start their examination on Tuesday including 906 from South Sudan.

Mr Wasanga gave assurances that candidates would have adequate security as over 48,000 security personnel have been dispatched to 23,819 examination centres.

He also said that Knec had embarked on establishing an accurate database of all contracted markers for security and accountability reasons. All those who participated in marking of the national examination in 2012 have been asked to register online to enable the council fast track payment which has been a bone of contention in the past.