Curb cheating in exams

Cheating in national examinations is an endemic problem that continues to defy measures to curb it. This undermines the integrity of the tests.

It is not just a criminal offence with severe legal and institutional penalties, but worse, it becomes counterproductive as some weak students find themselves in programmes they cannot hack and end up dropping out after denying their peers admission to those courses. This becomes wasteful.

This crisis also threatens the credibility of educational credentials and devalues the hard work done by honest students. Whenever these national assessments are compromised, public trust in the entire education system is eroded.

As more than a million candidates in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam started their theory papers yesterday morning, new measures had been implemented to curb cheating.

The Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) has unveiled a raft of new tough requirements and tightened the rules introduced in recent years to safeguard the integrity of the national examinations. Knec has identified mobile phones as the main medium through which cheating is often done.

One of the most radical changes is the ban on mobile phones and smartwatches for the candidates and staff within the examination centres. Another measure is the personalisation of examination papers by having the candidates’ personal details printed on them.

Knec has also given assurance that no examination material will be leaked and has also enhanced digital security to counter fake paper fraud.

Last year, 1,180 candidates were found to have been involved in exam irregularities, and their results were subsequently cancelled. This was a 40 per cent increase from the 840 candidates in the 2024 exam.

The authorities must strictly enforce the new regulations for credible exam results to be released early next year.

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