Parents weakest link in exam cheating, PS Kipsang says

 

Education PS Belio Kipsang speaks to the media at Nakuru West Secondary School on November 11, 2024. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang has criticised attempts by some parents to facilitate exam cheating.

On Thursday Kipsang stated that the 2024 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) has proceeded more smoothly than in previous years, though he regretted that parents still bear significant responsibility for interfering with the process.

“All activities around exam centres and containers have been relatively quiet. However, the biggest problem in the exam process is us—adults, particularly parents. We hear that resources are being mobilised to compromise our staff, and the people mobilising them are not our staff; it’s us as parents,” he said while overseeing exam distribution in Nyeri.

He added: “Why are we mobilising resources to compromise exams when we have given our children four years of schooling? Why are we allowing them to go to school with phones when we know they shouldn’t?”

On Wednesday, a suspect’s social media account highlighted how scammers are preying on gullible parents and students eager to take shortcuts to pass the national exams.

Collins Kipchumba, 23, was arrested and accused of attempting to mislead the public into believing he could leak KCSE exam papers ahead of time, for a fee.

Kipchumba was apprehended by Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers on Monday after being linked to the crime.

The suspect, a graduate of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) with a Bachelor of Arts in Human Resource Management, allegedly used the clock App to backdate the time, making it appear he had acquired the papers by 3am. He reportedly waited for the tests to be shared in a Telegram group before ‘harvesting’ and selling them.

Detectives report that scammers collaborate with some invigilators, who photograph exam papers once they have been distributed in the exam room, to deceive unwitting ‘clients’ into thinking they have pre-circulated copies. This practice violates the Kenya National Examination Council’s (KNEC) directive that no phones are allowed in exam rooms.

Investigators traced the suspect to Kiamunyi, Nakuru, where it emerged he was a member of a Telegram group with 80,000 participants, mostly parents and students, where links and photos of exam papers were shared.

Further questioning revealed that the suspect initially created a WhatsApp group, primarily discussing politics, during Deputy President Kithure Kindiki’s swearing-in. Once KCSE exams began, he noticed photos of papers being posted in other Telegram groups and seized the opportunity to profit from the illicit trade.

His WhatsApp group, named ‘KCSE 2024’ with a profile picture from Kindiki’s swearing-in ceremony, quickly grew to 800 members, each requesting exam papers for a fee.

Kipchumba’s phone line was registered under his mother’s ID, which he later discarded, obtaining a new line under his girlfriend’s ID due to outstanding loans on his original line.

According to the DCI, he faces charges of unauthorised possession of exam materials under the KNEC Act, soliciting money from unsuspecting members of the public, and obtaining money under false pretences.