Thika West Sub-County Education Officer Erastus Micheni has discouraged this year's Form Four and class eight candidates against cheating in the national examinations.
Speaking from his Thika Office on Monday, Micheni said that cheating candidates would be heavily penalised by the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) as per the set rules.
Noting that many candidates were negatively affected by the recent nationwide teachers' strike, Micheni said that that should not be an excuse to cheat in the exams.
"KNEC takes cheating in the national exams very seriously and I would advise our candidates to desist from any form of cheating", said Micheni.
He also asked candidates and their parents not to be misled by cons into buying fake leaks which he said would affect their preparedness towards the exams.
"Such people should be reported to the police or zonal education offices. It is an exam offence to swindle candidates or their parents' money in the pretext of giving them short-cuts," he added.