By Roy Hezron
A secondary school principal in Machakos County has been arrested for posting a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) Mathematics paper.
Betta Mutuku is said to have put the Mathematics paper on her WhatsApp status since evening of March 5, 2021 for the candidates to study overnight ahead of sitting for the actual exam on March 6, 2021.
Mutuku, who is the principal of ABC Kiseveni Secondary School in Machakos County, was picked from the school on the morning of March 6, 2021 for questioning by a team of police officers led by Machakos DCIO Rhodah Kanyi.
Her phone was also confiscated as investigations began.
Since blocking of all avenues of the examination leaking two years ago after imposing stricter measures, business cartels involved, seems to emerge whereby the examination notably the morning papers seems to being leaked hours before the papers begin.
The time between 6 am to 8am in the morning seems to be most crucial time whereby those involved circulate the papers, a scam that has also roped in university students.
On March 30, 2021 an invigilator in Migori Country was arrested for leaking the ongoing KCSE exam to candidates ahead of scheduled time.
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha said the invigilator will face criminal charges in court even as the police search for his accomplices.
“We have arrested an invigilator at a centre in Migori County who was sharing some of the materials that are exposed before the time scheduled,” Prof Magoha said Tuesday.
He said the malpractice happened between the period when the examination papers left the distribution centre (metallic containers) and when they arrive at the examination centre.
“In the current circumstances, unprofessional examination officials… shared the questions with targeted candidates before exam start-time,” he said.
A total of 752,891 candidates are sitting this year’s examination in about 10,437 centres as serious questions continue to emerge on the security and the integrity of the examination.
The candidates are expected to sit two metres apart to ensure social distancing is adhered to in line with health protocols to combat spread of Covid-19.
In December 2019, the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) cancelled results for 1,309 candidates linked to cheating, which was a decrease from the previous year when results for 4,519 candidates were withheld pending investigations into cheating.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) engaged some 227,679 teachers to serve the KNEC as invigilators, supervisors, Centre managers and examiners during this year’s exams.
