MPs to Begin KCSE Exam Cheating Probe
The Kenyan Parliament is set to investigate allegations of widespread cheating in the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams.
A member of the Education Committee stated that the lawmakers will be conducting a probe into the claims made by education stakeholders regarding the ambiguous positive deviation received by certain schools.
The terms of reference for the probe will be published in the coming days and the public will be given the opportunity to participate.
The team of investigators will examine the entire process of administration, marking, and release of results.
This includes auditing the system for setting exams, compiling questions, printing papers, and dispatching them to containers, as well as the transportation, conduct of principals and invigilators, submission of answer sheets to the Kenya National Examinations Council, and the examination marking process.
The National Assembly Education Committee chairperson, Julius Melly, has stated that schools will be required to produce previous results of the candidates, including internal assessments, mock results, and external exams.
The team will also examine the performance of the schools in previous internal exams to determine if cheating has occurred.
The Tinderet MP stated that the legislators will have a special sitting to discuss the concerns raised and urged the public to remain calm while the committee carries out its investigation.
The Education CS Ezekiel Machogu, however, denies that any cheating took place.
He downplayed the critics calling for mass cancellation of the KCSE exam results, saying the evidence is not compelling enough.
The CS also criticized former Education CS Fred Matiangi for declining exam standards, claiming that despite the public’s belief that Matiangi curbed cheating, the situation actually worsened.
He stated that in the 2016 exams, only 141 As were awarded out of 571,161 students, representing 0.02% of the total, which he considered a massive failure.
In the 2022 exam results, Nyambaria High from Nyamira county and Cardinal Otunga from Kisii posted mean scores of 10.89 and 10.76, respectively, which raised some eyebrows.
Mobamba High School in Nyamira also raised concerns after improving its mean score from 5.1 in 2021 to 9.2 in 2022, a deviation of plus 4.1.
The Kenyan Parliament is taking the allegations of cheating in the KCSE exams very seriously and will be conducting a thorough investigation to determine the truth behind the claims.
The public is encouraged to remain calm and allow the Education Committee to carry out its work.
MPs to Begin KCSE Exam Cheating Probe
