School heads tell all on fake exam papers

Every year, some parents and students are fooled into buying fake Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination papers.

Even today, as students, parents and teachers continue to digest their KCSE examinations' results, it is apparent that some are mourning silently, having parted with large sums of money in November last year with the hope of securing the "real thing" before the rest.

Speaking to The Standard, Kanga National School Principal Michael Ogweno, whose school posted a performance index of 10.7, regretted that parents and students never seem to learn.

"These people (parents and students) end in big shock when the real paper comes. In 2012, a parent drove to our school in the name of bringing drugs to his son. He left papers with the boy, with clear instructions that no one should see them, not even teachers. We have our own mechanisms of monitoring such students, and we finally caught up with him and confiscated the papers. When the real exam came, there was not even a single similarity," says Mr Ogweno.

He adds: "It's true that some teachers should be investigated. But we must also admit that con men have gone high-tech."

Last year, he reveals, the fraudsters took some well set mock papers and only changed a few aspects. "They just picked on some mock papers from Ndhiwa in Homa Bay County and went round peddling lies that those were the real exam papers that were already in circulation in some schools that do well. In fact, they like using names of schools that excel like Kanga, Maranda, Asumbi and others so that they meet their target," says Ogweno.

Mary Akunja, Principal of Kisumu Girls National School, attributes the success of the fake papers' merchants to lack of preparation on the part of teachers and candidates.

"In Kisumu Girls, work begins on the first day, first term in the school calendar," says Ms Akunja.

Dangerous generation

She adds: "Why would you as a teacher prepare your candidates for four years, only later to think of buying a paper for them?" Ms Akunja stresses that any teacher involved in such rackets is in the wrong profession.

Maseno School Principal Paul Otula takes issue with curriculum implementation among various school managers, saying education is supposed to be holistic. He advises that the moment curriculum implementers fully understand the need to explore other domains of learning, the issue of fake papers will not arise.

Otula regrets that with the culture of looking for ready papers, Kenya is breeding a a dangerous generation that will run down the economy.

"People who like short-cuts never get too far. They will always be punished in future because these are the same people you see engaged in mega scandals, since while at school, they were used to short cuts," Otula told The Standard.

Sister Ann Josephine Apiyo, the Principal Asumbi Girls National School, told The Standard of a case in 2014 in which a candidate tried to hide a paper intended to be "the real English paper".

"This student looked so closed to herself and was busy revising a paper, which when her friends sought to inquire its origin, she couldn't just open up," she said.

A plot was then hatched, and the paper stolen from the girl's locker and taken to the English teacher.

"This was the time that the teacher got a surprise that what the student had all along adored as the true paper, was just a pre-mock exam done by Maranda National School. The teacher informed me and I advised that several copies of the paper be produced and taken to class for revision," she said.

"Students tend to trust such papers more than what teachers tell them. The girl later was to learn that the paper was a mere pre-mock exam from Maranda, and resolved to revise hard. She was shocked that the real exam from Knec was a totally different," she says.

In 2009, Asumbi Girls fell victim to a parent who sneaked in and collected money from candidates, and gave them the "real English paper".

"It pains me that a parent could do this to our girls who had adequately prepared...Little did I know that my candidates were busy revising a fake paper. When the exams came the next day, they saw total black-out," said Sister Ann laughing.