Examination cartels who have been selling fake papers to parents and teachers have been identified, Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed has said.
The Cabinet Secretary on Monday said she will engage the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions, Attorney General, and Interior Ministry to deal with the culprits.
Cartels were blamed for rampant examinations cheating before former Education CS Fred Matiang’i (now Interior CS) initiated radical reforms in the management of examinations.
Amina, in assuring parents and students of the exams’ safety, said at least 224 officers will escort the papers from KNEC to the county storage facilities.
“We assure all stakeholders that the dispatch process will be free and secure from interference,” she told journalists on Monday.
“The examination papers will be escorted by armed security from collection points till the return of the scripts to KNEC containers and back.”
The CS spoke at Kenya School of Government where security personnel and education officers were briefed on the logistics. Matiang’i was present.
At least 1,000,759 KCPE and 664,586 KCSE candidates are expected to write this year’s exams.
KCPE will be administered between October 29 and November 1, while KCSE will run from November 5 to November 30.
Amina said the police will ensure security to all candidates and examination officers. She said anyone found breaching the law will be severely punished.
“Anyone found in breach of exam regulations will be apprehended on spot,” she said adding that she is set to issue keys to the 459 containers.
Amina further assured the Interior CS that the legacy he left at the ministry is firmly on track and all loopholes are sealed.
She said 30 centers are under high dependency surveillance after crucial indicators that there are high malpractice trends in the areas.
“We are fully prepared for this years’ s examinations and I wish to assure that it will not be leaked,” she said.
For his part, Matiang’i assured Kenyans of the credibility of the exams.
“We will not be merciful to those who breach the law. We don’t need to spend so much energy, resources to just deal with simple and straight forward matters like these.”
“I want to assure that we will give and the entire ministry of eduation 100 per cent support on matters security,” Matiang’i said.
He said there are measures in place to ensure there is no interference with exams in areas that have faced insecurity challenges.
Matiang’i said no Interior ministry official will be allowed to proceed on leave during the examination period.
“My diary has been cleaned from October 29 to November 29,” Matiang’i said.