Magoha Flags These Counties as Exam Cheating Hotspots

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha during the distribution of KCPE exams
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha during the distribution of KCPE exams
Courtesy

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha has flagged Garissa, Wajir, and Mandera counties as the epicenter of exam leakage in the ongoing KCSE 2021 examinations. 

Speaking to the media, the CS noted that education stakeholders within those counties colluded with exam center managers from other regions who distributed the leaked papers to both students and principals. 

"So, they are trying to export the papers at that time in order to justify the money that they have fleeced from the foolish stakeholders."

Education CS George Magoha (left) oversees the opening of KCSE examinations
Education CS George Magoha (left) oversees the opening of KCSE examinations.
File

"Let me call them foolish because why do you want to pay for an examination you know that the government has spent so much money to guard," he stated. 

CS Magoha's sentiments were backed up by intelligence from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) which stated that nearly all the exam material of the ongoing KCSE exam originated from those counties. 

According to the DCI reports, when the exam containers are opened, some teachers used their phones to take photos of the papers, and immediately began to distribute them to the students and other stakeholders.

Further, a section of security agencies was compromised and was paid in order to allow the leaked papers to be distributed within the schools. 

As the exams kicked off on Monday, March 14, the Ministry of Education highlighted several tactics that some students and teachers were using to cheat.

Recently, a 20-year-old university student was arrested for suspected impersonation after he sat for English paper I at Kiamabundu Mixed Secondary School.

 Another vice that the Ministry of Education tried to nip in the bud was the use of phones whereby leaked papers were being circulated through social media apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram. 

Last year, Kisii, Homa Bay, and Migori were flagged as exam cheating hotspots by the Ministry of Education which noted that parents could pay up to Ksh200,000 in order to access the leaked papers. 

Students sit for a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE) exam
Students sit for a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE) exam on November 6, 2019.
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KNEC
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