How KCSE Leakage Earned Mandera Teacher Sh1.5 Million

A report by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) has revealed dumbfounding details concerning how a Mandera Deputy Principal raked in millions in the biggest Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam cheating scandal.

According to the DCI investigations, the leaks originated from Wargadud Mixed Secondary School in Mandera County, when the teacher, Patrick Irungu colluded with police officers manning the papers at Wargadud Police Station after realising that his students had not adequately covered the syllabus.

The teacher went into an agreement with 2 officers, Irungu Mugetha and Denis Nyarori, that saw them receive Sh60,000 per week in exchange for copies of the question papers.

One of the officers broke the exam packages' seals, took photos of the questions then re-sealed them with a special glue.

The Deputy Principal then told his 115 Form Four students to contribute Sh5000 each in order to access the papers, collecting a total amount of Sh575,000.

The officers leaked the papers in photograph form to the teacher using a memory card during the entire KCSE period and received a whopping Sh240,000.

It was from there that the leaked exams spread to other schools in the country including Mang'u High School, Starehe Boys' Centre, Maryhill Girls' High School, as students sent screen shots to their friends at a fee.

Investigations revealed that the Deputy Principal's Co-operative Bank and M-Pesa accounts received payments of up to Sh1.5 million during the evaluation period from beneficiaries of his scheme. 

Irungu confessed involvement in the examination irregularity, but according to the report, the Deputy school head may not be charged over the matter.

“Despite the overwhelming evidence, it is not possible to effectively prosecute the teacher… since he destroyed all the evidence by burning his mobile phone and iPad,”DCI report was quoted by the Nation.

The DCI revelations come a few days after Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i disbanded the KNEC board following massive exam irregularities during the 2015 KCSE examinations.

While releasing the KCSE results early in the year, the Cabinet Secretary announced cancellation of over 5000 candidates' exam outcome due to dishonesty.