A total of 2,709 candidates cheated in this year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) results released Wednesday by Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, which is an increase from 1,702 last year.
Busia County had the highest cases of irregularities at 261 while Mandera and Vihiga had one each.
Other counties with irregularities included ; Kitui (128), Turkana (125), West Pokot (124), Nairobi (111), Kakamega (191), Kwale (17), Lamu (13), Nyandarua (41), Murang’a (37), Machakos (56), Embu (26), Meru (218), Isiolo (19), Makueni (16), Tharaka Nithi (5), Samburu (61), Trans Nzoia (51), Bomet (88), Nakuru (72), Kericho (65), Nandi (34), Laikipia (12), Narok (26), Baringo (54), Bungoma (71), Vihiga (1), Kisumu (75), Kisii (106), Homa Bay (156), Nyamira (38), Migori (53), Garissa (170) and Wajir (187).
A total of 157 persons who include head teachers and their deputies, teachers, university students, candidates, police officers and parents have been arrested and charged in court for various offences committed during the examinations.
Dr Matiang’i took to task top leadership of the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) led by Chairman Kibiru Kinyanjui and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Kivilu for the cheating, saying it will no longer be business as usual.
Dr Matiang’i said it was time to deal with this “nonsense of cheating”, noting that every officer will be held accountable for the irregularities, saying that 12 months are enough for the council to prepare for the examination.
He described cheating in national examination as the lowest form of intellectual dishonesty and directed that county directors of education take responsibility for cheating in their regions.
“We cannot condemn the lives of our children and, therefore, we must address these irregularities as it is eroding our credibility. We will do whatever it takes and everybody must be accountable and take their duties seriously,” said the CS.
INCREASE IN EXAM CHEATING
The cheating represented a 0.29 per cent of the number of candidates who sat for the examination and the cases were found in 111 out of 25,127 examination centres, representing 0.44 per cent of the total number of examination centres.
“This goes to show that there was a slight increase in the percentage of candidates who were involved in examination irregularities in 2015 when compared to 2014,” said Dr Matiang’i.
The highest examination irregularities were recorded in 2011 when 7,974 candidates were involved.
Collusion was the most common form of examination irregularity, accounting for 98.7 per cent of the total number of cases reported.
Dr Matiang’i said he was disappointed that head teachers and teachers were mostly responsible for encouraging, abetting
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