- • A total of 15 cell phones, among them eight found in candidates' possession, have been confiscated from various examination centres.
- • Some schools have been flagged for attempts to open the exam papers earlier and sharing the questions with candidates.
Mobile phones, fake leakage papers and early exposure have now emerged as new schemes used in efforts to cheat in the 2020 KCSE exam that enters the third week on Monday.
Education CS George Magoha said on Thursday at least 15 people, among them teachers, have been arrested and are under investigations for scheming examination cheating in the 2020 KCSE examinations.
The CS said the ministry had unearthed a scheme involving circulation of false examinations sold to parents as leakage of the national exam.
Such a case had been witnessed in Kericho, the CS said, noting that the person responsible, a businessman, has since been arrested.
“We have seen fake papers being circulated in some areas of this country purported to be genuine examination materials,” Magoha said.
He spoke at Upperhill Secondary School in Nairobi after the close of the second week of the KCSE exams.
He said a total of 15 cell phones, among them eight found in candidates possession, and have been confiscated from various examination centres.
“They are in the hands of law enforcers as investigations continue into attempts to use the gadgets to relay information into examination rooms,” he said.
Also, he said a university student had been arrested in Busia County for aiding in the cheating.
The CS however did not specify the details of how the student was involved in cheating.
On Tuesday, CS Magoha announced that some schools have been trying to engage in cheating by opening the exam papers earlier and sharing the questions with candidates. A scheme he referred to as ‘Early exposure’.
Explaining the 'early exposure' concept, Magoha said some officials open the papers minutes before the exam start time, give the questions to teachers who in turn share them with the candidates.
“Unprofessional examination officials expose the exams a little earlier than the scheduled time. The questions are then shared to the targeted candidates just before the examinations start,” Magoha said.
Since 2016, early exposure remains the single biggest threat to examination integrity in the country.
CS Magoha has called for stern action on those found to engage in cheating. He said a hunt is on to find those involved in the distribution chain.
“We hope that arrested suspects will face the full force of the law in a manner that will stop those thinking they can penetrate our security systems,” Magoha said on Thursday.
So far, candidates have sat nine examination papers.
“The process has gone on very well in all parts of the country, helped by the good weather that has allowed us to deliver examination materials safely to all centres,” Magoha said.
-Edited by Sarah Kanyara