Twelve candidates from Kitonyini High School in Machakos County have been stopped from sitting the rest of their KCSE examinations after they were allegedly caught with mobile phones.
The students were sent away on Friday, November 13, after the phones were reportedly discovered within the exam zone. The candidates will not write the remaining papers while the matter is dealt with by the relevant authorities.
What is still not clear is where exactly the phones were found. It has not been confirmed whether the gadgets were inside an examination room or somewhere else within the school compound. That detail could matter, but for now, education officials say the mere fact that the students had the phones broke KNEC rules.
According to the council’s guidelines, candidates are not allowed to carry mobile phones or any other electronic communication device to an examination centre. The same rules bar students from having books, notes, loose papers or any other unauthorised material inside the exam room, or even close to where they are seated. Handbags, briefcases and backpacks are also not allowed inside the centres, so that no one can sneak in materials.
Calculators are only allowed in subjects where they are permitted, such as Mathematics and Physics. Even then, candidates must use approved non-programmable models, and they must not come with covers. Exam officials are also expected to follow the rules, as their phones must be switched off and kept in a safe place far from the exam rooms.
The incident comes at a time when the government has been warning strongly against cheating. Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos Ogamba cautioned during the opening of this year’s KCSE that anyone involved in exam malpractice will face the full force of the law, adding that the government will show no mercy to offenders. He said measures had been put in place to make sure the exams run with as few problems as possible.
Ironically, the Machakos case was reported just hours after the government announced that the national examinations were going on smoothly across the country.
