Update: Education PS Julius Jwan, dismissed any reports of leakage in KCSE examinations. Jwan urged parents, teachers and stakeholders to disregard the reports and trust that the integrity of the exam was intact.
“For the next four weeks, we’re going to run the KCSE exams effectively the way we did with KCPE. I know there’s something on the headline of the papers today which we’ll be addressing later, ignore that.
"There is no exam that leaked. We want to assure the country that the exam’s integrity remains as it has always been,” he said.
Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary-General Wilson Sossion and several teachers exposed how a blunder by the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) led to the leakage of KCPE exams.
Teachers said that KNEC lifted Social Studies and English exams from two books that had been widely circulated to Class 8 candidates prior to sitting the exams in March 2021.
The candidates, mostly those in private schools had already done the tests in February 2021 after purchasing the books published by Distinction Educational Publishers.
"When a similar test is predicted and it appears in the KNEC exams, then it shows there was a leakage. The credibility and reliability of national exams is tarnished," Sossion told the Nation on Thursday, March 25.
"Even though exams are set from learning material available, KNEC going on to publish the same tests indicates that we have a serious issue with our exam process," Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Secretary-General, Akelo Misori added.
Exam stakeholders thus raised various questions among them being whether KNEC tendered the publishers to set the exams as well as how the council will rectify the error as schools that had done the tests before now have a wide advantage.
The publishers distanced themselves from the scandal, saying that all they do is release tests that are used to analyse the students’ preparedness.
"If KNEC used our content, then we don’t have any issue with them. Our books have been used for the past years," a director at the company responded.
Education CS George Magoha was adamant that no leakage had occurred while addressing the press on Wednesday, March 24. Magoha had earlier on warned private schools, suppliers, police officers, teachers and students of exams cheating.
“This ministry will not take cheating lightly, and this is why we are sending a warning to all those planning to confuse our children or parents that the full force of the law will be used against those found culpable,” said Magoha.
Education stakeholders said that they would keenly follow the developments to see whether Magoha would take action against KNEC. The council said that it would issue a statement on the matter.
Marking of the KCPE tests began on Thursday, March 25, with Magoha shifting focus to the KCSE exams which commence on Friday, March 26.
