The Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) has announced a raft of changes to the Kenya Secondary School Education (KCSE) exam papers effective 2024.
The council’s CEO David Njengere said the move is meant to curb exam cheating adding that candidates found breaking the rules will take personal responsibility.
Speaking during a meeting at Mitihani House, the KNEC boss said students who will sit for the 2024 KCSE examination will have their papers customized.
Their names, index number and other personal details will be pre-printed on the papers.
Therefore, any malpractice by individual candidates will not lead to the punishment of an entire school or an examination center.
“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.
Previously, candidates have been required to write down their names, index number and other personal details in spaces provided in the exam papers.
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Other Changes Announced by KNEC
KNEC CEO David Njengere explained that the move means that there will be no extra answer papers or question papers for candidates.
Additionally, principals of various institutions will not be allowed to photocopy the papers, as reported in some situations.
However, at the end of each paper, the section containing the candidates’ details will be torn off and packed separately to guard against examiners identifying the candidates while marking.
At the same time, Njengere said that the personalization of papers will get rid of cases of impersonation, which is an examination malpractice, previously reported, though in rare instances.
He added that the council learnt that in every 100 examination papers, an extra paper was printed and made available to the examination center.
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Consequences to KCSE Students
On the other hand, private candidates will sit their theory papers at the County headquarters, unlike in the past when they sat at the sub-county headquarters.
Also, only registered candidates will be allowed to sit the exam and only for the subjects they signed up for.
“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,” added Njengere.
Some 965,501 candidates have registered for the 2024 KCSE examination, compared to the 903,264 candidates who sat the examination in 2023, recording a 6.89 per cent increase.
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