Why Students Cheat in KCSE Exams
The urge to cheat in an examination especially KCSE and KCPE in an environment that increasingly views success and achievements as fundamental for one’s life is understandable. Some may succumb to the temptations to cheat as the pressure to do well academically in such environment is tremendous. Nevertheless, taking a short cut to success at the expense of personal and professional life may prove quite costly in the long run.
The chairperson of the National Assembly Education Committee, Julius Melly says that it may not every time be the student’s mistake to cheat in the national exams. Teachers and principals who crave for promotions, parents who want their children enrolled in large national schools are to blame here as Melly said.
Moreover, he stated that when the principal and the school is in such a prestigious position in society and are pressured by the Board of Management to perform well or be dismissed also contribute to the malpractice in schools like these. Therefore, to prove that you are a performer, as a Principal, you have to look for a way out and the best way is to promote exam malpractices.
This can be achieved by compromising the supervisors and inspectors through bribes in order for them to allow cheating in the exams.
During the investigation, the committee unearthed numerous ways through which candidates perpetrated exam malpractices including sharing answers within the exam room, using mobile phones, cheating by impersonation, smuggling notes into exam rooms, copying from other’s notes, etc.
At the moment, KNEC is making efforts to eliminate all forms of malpractices during the 2023 national exams.