Exams: Parents will be responsible for students found with phones

Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed with education stakeholders yesterday. [ David Njaaga, Standard]

Students found with mobile phones during examinations will be suspended and their parents held responsible, the Ministry of Education has warned.

Addressing the media yesterday after meeting stakeholders in the education sector, Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed also ordered all parents to desist from visiting boarding schools this term.

Yesterday, Dr Mohamed met officials from the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec), Kenya National Parents Association and Kenya Private Schools Association to discuss measures put in place to ensure credible examinations.

The CS said the ministry had finalised plans to deliver examination materials to examination centres countrywide.

"With just three weeks before the commencement of the national examinations on October 28, 2018, I am proud to announce to the country that we have finalised plans to distribute exam materials to all schools. Over the next two weeks, the ministry will work round the clock to ensure all examination materials are delivered to the 459 containers in the country in readiness for the start of the examinations," Amina said.

She said national examinations would take off as expected despite strike threats by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) to boycott the preparations. “We are aware of these other issues, but the focus now is on the examination process. Conversations are ongoing, but we will address the problems at a later time,” she said.

Schools were also cautioned against asking parents for money this term, with the CS warning that legal action would be taken against teachers and students caught in any form of cheating.

She said the ministry had completed an audit on students displaced in Nairobi, Narok and Nakuru counties, and ensured they were placed in places where they could sit the examinations. Mohamed also warned parents, schools and teachers against compromising administration and management of the exams, emphasising that at least 30 centres were under strict surveillance.

Knec chairman George Magoha said examinations had not leaked. He said the examination process should be free from politics.

“We call on leaders to look at their backyards, specifically those centres that are not following the right procedures,” he said.