Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha has warned that a review of the private examination centres are in the offing following KCSE cheating reports tied to them.
Private exam centres serve the disadvantaged who either cannot afford school fees but are confident of passing the national exam after studying on their own. Two,
Candidates at such centres are either repeating or sitting for the exam at an advanced age. In short, such people are supposed to be noticeable go-getters who have seen a gap in their lives or in the society and were determined to change the course.
Nonetheless, in every ecosystem there are a few rotten apples. Again, others soil their goals through raw ambition by bending rules with abandon to prove a point.
It is not uncommon to find a person who for one reason or another failed to meet university or college entry requirements and were determined to acquire a degree or a diploma; a higher qualification. Which is spirit-lifting.
Because their dreams don’t die — or are valid, according Lupita Nyong’o — they opt to register for national examinations as private candidates. They are special people armed with ambition and good character, because their resolve to rise should benefit the society.
But they are now being condemned after being found to be mere mortals who collude to cheat in exams. So bad for them because they have been smoked out and will contend with tighter rules should the ministry finally revise the centre rules.
In the face of stiff competition, a majority of the culprits turns to impersonation by hiring a university student, a professional, or somebody who previously did well in the national exam to write the papers on their behalf. It is reasonable to conclude that this is not the first time this is happening. It is also possible that examination malpractices are broadening and changing its features.
But this should not confound the ministry and the national exam body KNEC, much as it must give them sleepless nights in the quest to find a solution.
Some of the changes that should include a tighter investigation team: from KNEC itself, the police and even the media, the latter known to unearth movie-like malpractice and rot. However, the special centres ought to be treated with a lot of vigour, care, and sobriety.
What are these centres? Who runs them? Why are they necessary in the national exam architecture? Who should be allowed to use them? A tight vetting to sift grain from chaff.
This is how to maintain such centres since they are a necessity in a society where raising school fees is a big problem. So, instead of branding them as centres of rot, they should be built into centres that produce Kenya’s self-taught and disciplined future professionals.
Should the tightening of the rules fail, if at all, it will be prudent to shut them down. If anything the subsidised school fees policy must have reduced fees burden. Anybody wishing to sit for the exam at an advanced age should enrol at a public or private school, who will take responsibility when cheats go on the rampage.
Indeed, cheating in exam is one of the worst forms of corruption. It is the dirty pipe spewing all manner of corrupt people who kill such as quack doctors, quack pilots, quack teachers, quack engineers, quack plumbers, quack what not. Whoever mars examinations, messes with the whole society now and in the future. Our health, economy, progress, security and stability is highly dependent on quality education.
Eleven candidates is a big number to be caught cheating. As usual, the victims are likely to deny the charges. But the society must not relent.
Even as the war against examination malpractice is taking root, it is telling there are people this daring. It is critical that such wayward behaviours be handled with utmost urgency.
A cultural revolution on how Kenya thinks about examinations will help to restore order and remove the conscious confusion.
Private examination centres have no special privilege since they are far from the mainstream public and private schools. They are expected to show integrity. Period.
If the ministry is dedicated to making a difference, it has to move from issuing threats to doing something about this rot, motivated by the interests of the nation.
