By Victor Ochieng’
As the 2022 candidates sit for KCSE, we cross our fingers and hope that there won’t be rampant cases of exam irregularities.
After the release of 2021 KCSE, it was clear that cheating had dented the integrity of exams in some centres. This was evidenced by the withholding of results in some centres. It is so sad that the monster once slain by slain by Dr. Fred Matiang’i and other strict mandarins at the Ministry of Education (MoE) has found fissures and crevices to creep back with all its farcical fangs.
Largely, schools that cheat in order to get stellar results they do not deserve put other schools in precarious positions. It is a game of mean scores since when results are out, we’re swift to celebrate those with impressive mean scores.
We hardly question the means they used to prop up themselves to the epic peak. People compose pieces for Principals who are prone to this malfeasance.
Let’s we forget, principled principals who try their best to post genuine results sometimes are seen not to be working when their peers who are cheats are far much ahead of them.
When we massage the results so that some students attain impressive performance under questionable circumstances, we become so unfair to students who work hard to get real results. This brings out the disparities that exists in the society, which in Animal Farm by George Orwell we are told, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
Somehow, it may not be easy to establish which schools cheat to shove their way to the top.
It is sad to state that there are school arrowheads who condone cheating in their centres. Some teachers also follow suit yet they know they risk losing their jobs if caught. The wonder of wonders, there are schools with impudent students who attempt to sneak phones into schools in order to get leakages from some farcical sources.
Just to be blunt about it: In case secondary schools focus on Best Academic Practices, there will be no need of cheating. Proper syllabus coverage, in-depth revision programmes and ample practice and preparation are the be-all and end-all. There is no magic wand, elixir or philosopher’s stone as Paulo Coelho, the putative Brazilian author of the Alchemist, would put it.
Focusing on the nuts and bolts of my main thesis: cheating dents future careers of students. Somewhat, a student can cheat and score a good grade and be selected to study an alpha course like Medicine yet the student does not wield the necessary attitude, aptitude and fortitude to wrestle with Medicine.
Somewhat, it is instructive to note: aptitude as a natural ability to do something is closely connected to academic performance. No wonder, every year after KCSE, KUCCPS comes up with the university and college cut-off and cluster points. In the final analysis, category of grades, first, middle, low and lowest grades, play an integral role in matters varsity and college placements.
Therefore, it is advisable to let students garner grades they deserve. If we encourage them to cheat in order to jostle to the top, they will drop out of tertiary institutions due to lassitude – dearth of mental strength. This is not healthy for their mental health. If things go south, we see them sink into depression and suicidal thoughts.
Finally, when school heads encourage cheating in exams, they raise children who lack useful values like integrity, honesty, trustworthiness, which are quite key in the future world of work. People who lack integrity also suffer from scarcity and paucity of soft skills like dependability and reliability, which are very important when it comes to job placement and employment.
Lack of exam integrity plants weeds of corruption in the mortal hearts and impressionable minds of learners. When schools allow the evil culture of cheating to grow and glow, they train young people to be prone to cutting corners yet short cuts are often wrong cuts.
The writer is an editor, orator and author. vochieng.90@gmail.com
