The Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) has revealed that the 2024 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams will feature major changes to the exam papers as part of its effort to tackle cheating.
KNEC CEO David Njengere stated the council will be introducing new anti-cheating measures, designed to enhance exam integrity and reduce instances of malpractice.
He was speaking during a meeting at Mitihani House where he stated that the exam papers for students sitting for the 2024 KCSE will be customized. These papers will feature pre-printed names, index numbers, and other personal details of the candidates.
This will hence address misconduct by an individual candidate rather than the entire school or examination centre.
The introduction of personalized exam papers will also target the issue of impersonation, which creates loopholes when attempting to hold dishonest students accountable.
“What we are saying is that we shall personalize the examination papers so that each candidate will have their details already printed. This means that in case of malpractices, we shall ask the candidate why they allowed their paper to be used by someone else,” said Njengere.
The CEO also stated that as part of these these measures, extra answer sheets or question papers will not provided at the examination centers. This is aimed at eliminating the potential for cheating and ensure a fair testing environment.
Following the rampant photocopying of examinations by unscrupulous school officials, Njengere noted that the new system will be used to identify the owner of the paper hence detering such practices.
To enhance exam integrity, the section of the paper with the candidate’s details will be removed and packed separately after each exam, preventing examiners from identifying candidates during marking.
The council has also implemented logistical changes for private candidates. Instead of sitting their examination papers at sub-county headquarters as in previous years, private candidates will now take these exams at county headquarters. This change is intended to streamline the examination process and improve oversight.
Additionally, KNEC has emphasized that only registered candidates will be allowed to take the exams, and will only do so for the subjects they have officially registered for.
This new directive aims to ensure that all participants are properly accounted for and to uphold the examination’s credibility.
“We gave you two months to register candidates, and we even did a campaign where we met all center managers and informed them of these innovations.
We, therefore, expect that all candidates’ details were captured accurately at the registration stage and there will be no room for excuses,” Njengere said.