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Police in Kisii Central Sub-County in Kisii county have launched investigations over alleged malpractices during the ongoing Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination at Nyanchwa Boys High School.

A police report filed yesterday indicates that Sarah Kasana, an invigilator at the school found a phone next to the exam room placed on the table.

She said after candidates completed their maths paper 2, she sought to find out the owner of the phone.

“One Lillian Ondiek aged 30, sitting as a private candidate and hosted in Nyanchwa Boys Centre stepped forward and claimed the phone to be hers,” says the police report.

It adds that Lilian proceeded to reveal the phone’s password and upon checking, it was discovered that some answers for the examination had been posted on WhatsApp.

It showed that the same had been shared in four WhatsApp groups, with one group having 12,000 members.

“Police rushed to the scene and it was established that the make of the phone was Infinix hot 11 and that the answers to the mathematics paper 2 had been sent to the group 48 minutes after the official starting time of the paper at 0800 am,” says the report seen by the media.

The report says messages were being sent to participants, urging them to send Sh10,000 each for the next paper, identified as kiswahili paper 3.

The student was allowed to continue writing the subsequent examinations and the phone kept as an exhibit.

The incident came barely a week after People Daily unearthed the rot in the administration of the ongoing exams with the government moving fast to crack the whip to mitigate further malpractices.

The earliest casualties of the crackdown included three school principals who were suspended and over 20 teachers arrested over alleged involvement in facilitating cheating, confirming the decay that has rocked the national tests that are meant to mark the candidates’ transition to tertiary institutions.

Tolerate malpractice

Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu confirmed the suspensions warning that his ministry has no room to tolerate the malpractice.

“We have put very tight measures to ensure no room for cheating. When a person is caught engaging in malpractice, he or she and the centre manager will be held responsible,” said Machogu.

Among the principals suspended is Charles Onyari, the country’s best teacher from Nyambaria High School in Nyamira County which became the best-performing institution in last year’s examinations with a mean score of 10.89.

Reports further indicate that learners and staff from four schools among them Nyambaria Boys, Sironga Girls, Gekomoni Secondary School and St. Paul Gekano Boys in Nyamira County have so far recorded statements with the DCI over exam cheating allegations.

In what signified probably the worst case of malpractice, the arrested teachers were busted by police as they were working on a chemistry paper in Migori County with the intention of leaking the questions and answers to candidates in a girls’ school.

Among the suspects arrested are Zachariah Samwel, Zablon Chacha, Charles Maroa, Chacha Peter, Madam Triza and Vincent Onyage.

And as sleuths continue to investigate the tactics being used to steal the exams, some of the examination cartels have gone a notch higher with different measures being put in place to avoid arrest while luring people with weekly subscriptions.

The Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) which administers the examination has cautioned candidates sitting for their KCSE examinations to be cautious of fake exam papers being circulated on various social media platforms.

KNEC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. David Njengere confirmed that the examination papers being circulated on social media platforms are not genuine and are only meant to deceive those sitting for KCSE.

He said the new guidelines that were put in place are working well, saying this year KNEC is determined to conduct credible results.

“Students have studied for the last four years, so I urge them to ignore those papers being circulated on various social media channels. The papers are fake.

 “I assure candidates that the marking will be fair but quite strict to identify any form of malpractice that could have happened. This is being done to ensure credibility of the national examinations and ensure learners attain genuine grades,” he observed.