- “It is regrettable to say that the examination cartels are very active on something called Telegram. We are actually watching closely,” Magoha said.
- “We are not going to allow anyone to mess with this examination. The papers being spread on Telegram are fake,” he said.
Candidates have devised a new way of cheating using a mobile-based application known as Telegram, Education CS George Magoha has said. https://bit.ly/3pCjGwp
Image: AURA RUTH
Candidates have devised a new way of cheating using a mobile-based application known as Telegram, Education CS George Magoha has said.
Magoha said they are on the lookout for examination cheats.
“It is regrettable to say that the examination cartels are very active on something called Telegram. We are actually watching closely,” he said.
The CS spoke on Thursday in Mombasa during the commissioning of Competency Based Curriculum classrooms at Star of the Sea Girls’ Secondary School.
Magoha said they usually encounter cheating problems during the second paper of every subject.
“I want to warn those few centre managers who will be tempted to open the papers and share it on Telegram that we are waiting for you. If you don’t love your career and your life, then attempt it,” he said.
The CS said the Ministry of Education is going to consult further on what time the containers carrying examinations should be opened.
He said some unscrupulous individuals usually want to take advantage of the time of the opening of those containers to sneak out examination papers.
Magoha said the schools that are near the examination depots, can be given the papers 15 minutes to time. This is instead of the one hour period that the paper used to be released prior to official starting time.
“We are not going to allow anyone to mess with this examination. For those people, who think they know what we are doing, we are watching closely. The papers being spread on Telegram are fake,” he said.
The CS said they have finalised plans of ensuring all candidates sit for their examination including candidates from the far-flung areas in Kerio Valley, Marsabit and Lamu.
“Those people who think that their children will be disadvantaged, the government has ensured that every child shall be given an exam at the right time,” he said.
Magoha said the government has identified certain schools which will act as boarding schools to accommodate these groups of children.
He said the government will ensure all children are accounted for, have been transported to schools and are fed during the entire period.
“In the last exam, I had to walk for about two kilometres to look for a child who was missing in school and this will happen again,” the CS said.
Magoha said the construction of 10,000 CBC classrooms is currently at 80 per cent completion.
He said the first phase of the project had a target of 6,470 classrooms and so far there are more than 3,000 classrooms.
The CS said another batch of 2,900 classrooms are at the roofing level.
Four counties of Meru, Garissa, Mandera and Waijir are at 100 per cent completion of the CBC classes.
Magoha said Meru has 264 classes.
“Now that we must deliver, I want to take a risk and ask everybody else to allow the contractors to continue with their work until the end of next week before the KCPE exams starts,” he said.
The CS said this will enable classrooms that are at the roofing level to be finished and take the completion to 95 per cent.
He said at the end of examination, the ministry intends to immediately roll out the second phase of the remaining classrooms.
Magoha warned individuals politicising the new learning curriculum saying CBC is not going anywhere.
“Let us remove politics in this project. I want to re-emphasise that as far as the government is concerned, CBC is going nowhere because you and I believe that it is good for our children,” he said.
The CS said parents should have time with their children when they close schools, adding that tuition classes during holiday are not allowed.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)