Swift relaying of results from marked exam scripts and consolidation of marking centres to improve surveillance are among measures put in place to enhance the credibility of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams.
By requiring immediate transmission of results from marked essay scripts to the headquarters, the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) is looking to limit the time lapse that facilitates collusion.
In addition, there will be consolidation of marking centres to 10, all based in Nairobi. The centres will have closed circuit television (CCTV) surveillance. This is a departure from the past when there were numerous marking centres scattered across the country.
Marking scripts
This measure is intended to keep a close eye on teachers marking scripts while keeping strangers away.
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Only a lean team will be deployed to mark the scripts of the 1,003,556 candidates who finish their KCPE exams today.
New marking machines – Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) – have also been procured to improve accuracy during marking and to reduce human interaction with candidates’ results.
Besides curbing cheating, officials are also banking on the improved efficiency in marking to release KCPE results seven days earlier than in the past.
Knec announced these among other security measures that will improve accuracy and credibility of the results.
The 2017 examination ends with science and religious studies papers.
Knec chairman George Magoha revealed that marking centres would be fitted with security cameras to keep out strangers who may want to compromise results. He also said the markers would be strictly monitored.
Speaking in Nyamira County yesterday, Prof Magoha said the results would transmitted in real time to the command centre.
Multiple choice answer sheets will strictly be marked at Mitihani House in Nairobi, using the OMR machines.
The 10 centres will only be used to mark English Composition and Kiswahili Insha scripts.
Streamed immediately
“After every day’s marking exercise, the results will be streamed immediately to the command centre where they will be automatically incorporated with the ones that will have been compiled by the OMR machines,” said Magoha.
This means there will be minimal time left for examiners to interact with the already marked sheets thus reducing the possibilities of manipulation.
Optical Mark Recognition is the process of capturing marked data from candidates’ answer sheets using specialised scanning. The machines work with a dedicated scanning device that shines a beam of light onto the paper.
The contrasting reflection at predetermined positions on a page is then used to detect these marked areas because they reflect less light than the blank areas of the paper.
Magoha said with the new technology, fewer staff would be required to feed the OMR machines with scripts.
He explained that Knec acquired 20 new state-of-the-art OMR machines at a cost of Sh100 million.
“The OMR machines are going to ease the work of marking and we anticipate compilation of results will be concluded much earlier than before,” he said.
Previous technology
Scripts will be marked in batches of 100 and 200 sheets, unlike the previous technology, which took many hours.
“The machines the council has been using were nearly 20 years old and had become obsolete; reason why results for previous years took long to be compiled and eventually released. But this time, results will be accurate and precise,” Magoha said.
“The old machines had high degree of errors, which lowered our efficiency in marking and releasing of results,” the chairman said.
