KCSE Exam Cheating: 23 Teachers Arrested, 3 Principals Suspended
In what is possibly the worst case of examination cheating since 2016, authorities in Migori County came across an unusual KCSE exam leakage ring, detaining 23 teachers and holding them for questioning.
Some of the teachers were detained while working on a Chemistry paper in a church in Migori with the purpose of sharing the questions and answers with students from St. Mary’s Mabera Girls High School.
Simultaneously, three Nyamira County principals who also serve as Exam Centre Managers in the ongoing KCSE exams have been suspended for attempted exam cheating, including the principal of Nyambaria High School, the best-performing school in last year’s exams.
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Zachariah Samwel, Zablon Chacha, Charles Maroa, Chacha Peter, Madam Triza, and Vincent Onyage were arrested on Wednesday while working on a chemistry exam at a church.
In addition to the school principal, Mary Lucy Obondo, and the supervisor, Alper Macelina, 14 invigilators from the school were arrested and quickly replaced.
In Nyamira County, the little-known Nyambaria High School, which topped the 2022 KCSE exam with a 10.89 mean score, is again in the news, but for the wrong reasons.
TSC suspended its principal Charles Onyari as exam centre manager for his involvement in exam irregularities.
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According to Nyamira County reports, learners and staff from four schools recorded statements with the DCI on the charges on Tuesday night.
Nyambaria Boys, Sironga Girls, Gekomoni Secondary School, and St. Paul Gekano Boys are among the four schools.
As Sironga Girls High School Principal Eva Odhiambo and a student recorded statements, two guys at Nyambaria were caught with foreign material in the exam room.
It is claimed that the student was discovered in the toilet with foreign material that she obtained from a guard stationed at the center. The guard fled, and police searched for him, but the principal returned to her job as a center manager.
At Gekomoni Secondary School, a teacher’s phone was impounded with exam paper images.
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Exam materials impounded at Nyambaria Boys, Sironga Girls, Gekomoni Secondary School, and St. Paul Gekano Boys were carbon copies, according to DCIO Paul Makonge, and may have originated from the same source.
“The same piece of paper we found in Sironga is the same piece of paper we found in Nyabaria and the same we found in Gekono meaning they are being manufactured in the same place,” Makonge went on to say.
This comes after Basic Education PS Belio Kipsang announced earlier today in Mombasa that the government had arrested certain examination supervisors for attempted exam cheating.
Those charged in Nyamira are likely to appear in court, while the students were released on cash bond of 10,000 shillings each.
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A suspect was apprehended at a private examination center in Meru County’s Nkubu district for impersonating a candidate during the chemistry paper. Alex Mutuma Mutembei is accused of taking the exam on behalf of Thairora Gladys, who was present in the exam room when Mutembei worked on her paper.
KCSE Exam Cheating: 23 Teachers Arrested, 3 Principals Suspended
