The Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) has employed various measures that will ensure delivery of credible national exams.
The council’s CEO David Njengere has assured that officers mandated to man the ongoing examinations were under strict instructions to curtail any malpractice in the administration of the exams.
Speaking after he led the exercise on distribution of exam papers from a container at Murang’a East, Njengere asked invigilators, supervisors and centre managers to follow laid down regulations that will uphold the integrity of the national exams.
The CEO further appealed to center managers to actively monitor that gates to schools remain open until exams are done to ensure a streamlined administration and credibility.
“As soon as the vehicle carrying the examination material enters the school compound, that gate must remain open. This will allow officers monitoring the exams to easily access the exam centres to check if there are any malpractices,” he said.
Among other rules set out by the council is to have all the mobile phones of the people in the examination centres kept under lock and key until the exam session is over.
“We want to emphasize that the rules are straightforward this year. All phones at examination centers will be kept under lock and key by supervisors. Compliance with these measures across the country will help us secure the exams,” he stated.
Njengere also revealed that two cases of attempted impersonation were reported on Monday, the first day of the exams.
He noted that both suspects were apprehended and are currently in custody as officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations pursue the cases.
“One was arrested in Nairobi and the other in Kilifi County. The two will be charged before court. We are vigilant across the country and anyone planning to engage in malpractice, they can be sure we will pursue and apprehend them,” he added.
Meanwhile, the CEO has reiterated that supervisors and invigilators overseeing the ongoing national examinations will continue to receive the same rates of stipend as that of last year, despite calls from the teacher unions for a pay increase.
He explained that current budget constraints prevent any increase in pay for invigilators this year saying that KNEC had already raised the rates for supervisors and invigilators last year after a five-year gap, and confirmed that these adjusted rates would remain in place for the current exams.
“We appreciate the noble work being done by our teachers in manning the national exams but for the time being will stick to the rates increased last year because the budget does not allow us to do any adjustments,” Njengere said.
Teachers through their unions have been agitating for increased allowances to man the exam claiming that inadequate compensation undermines Kenya’s standards for fair labour practices and adversely affects the morale of teachers, ultimately threatening the credibility of national examination.
By Bernard Munyao and Francis Anjaliwa
