The National Assembly Committee on Education released a statement notifying the public about forthcoming investigations on the allegations of gross malpractice in the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE).
According to a statement from the Clerk of the National Assembly, Samuel Njoroge, dated Thursday, February 2, the departmental committee was set to launch an inquiry into the process of administering the exam and the role played by the Ministry of Education in response to the concerns raised about the 2022 results.
"The Committee has resolved to conduct a public inquiry into the allegations to determine the objectivity of these claims and make recommendations to the House," the statement read in part.
The departmental committee will investigate, among other factors, the measures adopted by the Ministry to curb cases of exam cheating in a bid to ascertain whether or not they were adequate.
Members of the Committee will subject Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu and the entire ministry to scrutiny as they seek to establish the reality of their preparedness and commitment to preventing exam malpractices.
In addition, the Committee will carry out a comparative analysis of KCSE examination results registered from 2019 to the recently released 2022 in a move geared at determining whether the trajectory of the results was rational.
According to the statement, the analysis will help to generate clear interpretations of whether or not the trends registered were plausible without cheating after reports of schools that had galloping rises in their scores.
Also within the purview of the inquiry is the efficiency, and effectiveness of Examination Management Officers from KNEC headquarters deployed to schools to ascertain whether they were involved in any malpractice.
Further, the committee's lenses will focus on the examination marking stations to find out whether they were adequately prepared for marking and curating the results.
They will also scrutinize the marking schemes, the integrity of markers, and the processes of awarding marks and moderation.
Additionally, the members will consider the need of legislating regulations that will set precedents for future examination processes before tabling the report on their findings in he house.
In compliance with the constitutional requirement of public participation, the National Assembly invited members of the public to tender their views regarding the credibility of Kenya's exam system and the recommendations on ways of improvement through the Clerk's office.
A section of Kenyans had cast doubts on the credibility of the results announced by CS Machogu in January after what appeared to have been an abrupt rise in some schools in terms of performance.
Some schools saw a 100 per cent transition of their candidates to the university and registered high mean standard scores to stun traditionally known big names in the history of KCSE.
Additionally, the exam marking process was marred by a disruption after teachers in one of the centres staged demonstrations in protest of the marking schemes used. However, the Ministry downplayed the concerns raised by the teachers and promised to produce the results in time.
