Securing KCSE 2016 This is what Matiangi did

Eight months before releasing the Kenya Certificate for Secondary Education (KCSE) 2016 results, Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Fred Matiangi announced a raft of measures aimed at stamping out the scourge of exam cheating that had dogged the education docket in recent years.

Having been moved from the Information Ministry in November 2015, the former Egerton University and the University of Nairobi promised to deliver credible examinations – this coming in the shadow of rampant exam malpractices in the 2015 KCSE exams.

In May 2016, Matiang’i banned the holding of mass prayers and school visiting days during the third term, noting that some unscrupulous individuals use these days to sneak materials that could compromise national exams.

In October, Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang announced the overseeing of the national examinations by county commissioners, as opposed to the Kenya National Examination Officials (KNEC) supervisors who had been conducting the similar role in previous national examinations.

“Every county commissioner per county will be in charge of securing exams during the entire assessment process – starting day one,” said Belio Kipsang, in October, while issuing laptops to pupils of Kibirigwi Primary School in Ndia constituency.

The Education Ministry had also advocated the installation of security cameras in examination centers, aside from preventing the use of mobile phones by invigilators, supervisors or candidates in the exam room.

Interior CS Joseph Nkaisserry had also announced the use of police officers to protect the examination boxes containing the exam papers at the county offices.

“Police officers and other security teams will work together to ensure that by the time exams reach examination centers they are secure up to when the student is receiving exam papers,” noted Nkaisserry earlier in the year.

To rein in teachers who have been involved in exam malpractice, Matiang’i made head teachers directly responsible for their exam centres.

“Together with the boards of managements, headteachers will take full responsibility and accountability for any examination malpractice that may be reported in their centres,” he said in May 2016.

Under the new regulations, head teachers were required to pick exam papers from county distribution points at 5:00am every day – a departure from normal practice where police managed distribution.

Exam papers had unique watermark barcodes on each page, a measure that was aimed at curbing copying.

In 2015, over 5000 students had their results cancelled due to exam malpractices – numbers that caused massive outrage in the country.