In the ongoing KCSE 2021 exams, Prof George Magoha, the Education Cabinet Secretary, has identified Garissa, Wajir, and Mandera counties as the hub of exam leaks.
According to the CS, education officials in seven counties conspired with exam center managers from other regions to distribute pirated papers to students and principals.
“As a result, they’re attempting to export the papers at that moment to justify the money they’ve taken from the gullible stakeholders.”
“Let me call them silly,” he said, “because why would you pay for an examination when you know the government has spent so much money to protect you?”
CS Magoha’s sentiments were backed up by intelligence from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) which stated that nearly all the exam material of the ongoing KCSE exam originated from those counties.
According to the DCI reports, when the exam containers are opened, some teachers used their phones to take photos of the papers, and immediately began to distribute them to the students and other stakeholders.
Further, a section of security agencies was compromised and was paid in order to allow the leaked papers to be distributed within the schools.
As the exams kicked off on Monday, March 14, the Ministry of Education highlighted several tactics that some students and teachers were using to cheat.
Recently, a 20-year-old university student was arrested for suspected impersonation after he sat for English paper I at Kiamabundu Mixed Secondary School.
Another vice that the Ministry of Education tried to nip in the bud was the use of phones whereby leaked papers were being circulated through social media apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram.
Last year, Kisii, Homa Bay, and Migori were flagged as exam cheating hotspots by the Ministry of Education which noted that parents could pay up to Ksh200,000 in order to access the leaked papers.
