A section of parents in Kiambu Town have urged the government to come up with appropriate measures that will curb cheating in national examinations.
Speaking to this writer on Wednesday, the parents said that cases of examination irregularities are getting out of hand.
“We cannot continue to have many of our sons' and daughters' results canceled as a result of cheating. The government needs to come up with measures to stop this,” said Sheila Wanjiru, whose son's results was canceled over irregularities.
She stated that the government has the machinery to detect and stop exam irregularities.
Ms Wanjiku blamed the cases on unscrupulous people who she accused of misleading candidates to cheat in national examinations.
Peter Mburu, a resident in Kiambu, said that cases of cheating were increasing adding that the government needs to act.
“It is so bad to have results of candidates who worked hard for four years canceled because of cheating,” said Mburu.
He added, “During our time in school, we never had cases of examination cheating. This trend started recently and is costing candidates.”
Priscilla Wambui, an education expert working with a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Kiambu blamed the government for failing to tame examination cheating.
She said that cases of examination irregularity have been occurring over the years, yet the government is not keen to address the issue.
“The government needs to put in place proper policies that will curb examination cheating,” she said.
This comes after 5,101 candidates who sat for the 2015 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) had their results canceled over irregularities
Speaking when he released the 2015 KCSE results at Mtihani House in Nairobi on Wednesday, Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Fred Matiang’i said that there was a 70 per cent rise in exam cheating last year.
The CS said that cheating was reported in all counties except Isiolo.
“Cases of irregularities increased by 70 per cent in last year’s KCSE examination and 5,101 candidates who engaged in malpractices will not be getting their results,” he said.
Matiang’i noted that this year’s exam cheating cases were high compared to the 2, 975 cases that were reported in 2014.
A total of 528,502 candidates sat for last year’s KCSE according to the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC).