The Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination has long been viewed as a cornerstone of academic achievement and a gateway to higher education.

However, over the years, its integrity has come under severe scrutiny, with widespread examination malpractices casting a shadow over its credibility. What was once considered a badge of academic merit is now mired in allegations of deceit and manipulation.

The first cracks in KCSE integrity appeared around 2010, but it was the period between 2013 and 2015 that marked a nadir for the national exams. Examination malpractices were rampant, with leaked papers and manipulated results becoming the norm rather than the exception. This period threatened to undermine the very foundation of Kenya’s education system.

It is important to note that the current malpractice epidemic lies in the manipulation of results during the computation stage. The process begins with schools projecting inflated mean grades, which are widely publicised through banners and social media to lure unsuspecting stakeholders. These projections end up being used by cartels as a bargaining tool, demanding exorbitant fees — up to Sh1.2 million for a school with 60 candidates — to “clean” results and elevate mean scores. For larger schools hundreds of candidates, the amounts involved are staggering.

The funds for this multimillion-shilling racket come not from government coffers but directly from parents. Contributions are often disguised as “motivation kitty” payments or embedded in boarding fees for boarding schools and lunch money for day schools.

Parents, unknowingly or knowingly, become enablers of this systemic corruption.

Another tactic employed by performing schools involves avoiding joint examinations with under-performing schools. Such exams risk exposing the disparities between the actual and projected performance of students in top-performing schools. It would be questionable for students with a C in a joint mock exam to score an A- in KCSE in a performing school while a counterpart from an underperforming school manages a C-.

The cartels manipulate mean scores to favour paid-up schools. This ensures that well-funded schools maintain high grades, at the expense of underfunded schools, while maintaining the county mean constant. Its normal for students who have missed classes for months for whatever reason in performing schools to find themselves with grades as high as C+, raising serious questions about the credibility of the results.

The manipulation has reached absurd levels. Previously, in one county, 21 out of 33 schools had their mean scores lowered to inflate the scores of a select few schools. The current trend is to focus on quality grades such as B+, B, B-, and C+ to ensure mass university entry, rather than the conspicuous A’s and A-minuses that dominated previous scams. In one shocking case, a school with 480 candidates managed a 100 per cent university entry rate despite lacking basic facilities.

Several factors contribute to the persistence of KCSE examination malpractices, each rooted in systemic challenges and societal pressures.

School funding, teacher promotions, and societal pressures drive unethical practices in schools. Funding is tied to enrolment, which depends on good results, compelling schools to prioritise high performance. The Teachers Service Commission links teacher promotions to student outcomes, prompting some teachers to use unethical means to secure better grades.

Parental pressure further exacerbates the issue, as some parents actively encourage malpractices by obtaining leaked exam papers or providing financial resources to secure better outcomes for their children. Together, these factors enhance a culture where academic results are prioritised over integrity and fairness in education.

— The writer, a former vice-chancellor, is a Professor of chemistry at the University of Eldoret, and a Quality Assurance Expert