UPDATE: Tuesday, April 6: Education CS has termed the KCSE Maths paper allegedly leaked by a school principal through her Whatsapp as fake.
Magoha said that his ministry had examined the contents of the leaked paper and established that it did not match the KNEC Maths test that was done on Tuesday, 6.
“I have been assured by officers in my ministry that the Mathematics paper, which was circulating on WhatsApp was fake. You don’t have to worry about the credibility of the exam,” the CS responded to a journalist’s question during a media briefing at Moi Girls High School in Eldoret.
The CS also added that the people circulating the fake papers are targeting desparate, candidates, teachers and parents.
Police officers on Tuesday, April 6 arrested a school principal for allegedly leaking the ongoing Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) mathematics paper a few hours before the actual exam began.
The principal of ABC Kiseveni Secondary School in Machakos County, Betta Mutuku, shared a KCSE mathematics paper on her WhatsApp status with the hope that her candidates would use it when revising.
Machakos DCIO Rhodah Kanyi led the officers in carrying out the arrest saying that the principal’s actions were against the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) regulations.
In addition to being a principal, Mutuku is also the National Deputy Chief Examiner in Mathematics.
Mutuku is said to have put the Mathematics paper on her WhatsApp status from Monday evening, April 5 with the intention of having the candidates trans-night while preparing for the exam scheduled for Tuesday, April 6.
However, the arresting officers did not reveal whether the paper that the principal had shared was the same as the Maths paper that was done on Tuesday 6.
The principal’s phone was confiscated as the officers prepare to conduct further investigations on the matter.
The arrest comes as the KCSE exam across the country entered its second week.
The 2020 KCSE candidates recently complained that the exams were too hard. Some of the students who spoke to Kenyans.co.ke said that they had faced extraordinarily difficult questions in the papers done so far.
Others claimed that despite conducting through revisions with the help of their teachers, the first week had turned out to be completely different.
“I am not one to complain about exams but…I think Knec has played a trick on us. What I saw in the exam room last week was something else. The exams are too hard,” Justus Omollo said.
Some of the students also blamed Education CS, George Magoha, for claiming that they should not panic over the exams. They, however, remained hopeful that the remaining papers would be different.
Magoha had told the KCSE candidates that the government was well aware of the circumstance under which the exams were being done.
"Do not worry about the examination. We are aware you were at home for nine months, so your hope must remain alive. Do not get stressed. If you believe in God, you will all pass,” the CS assured the students when he visited Chavakali High School.
