The Kenya National Examination Council has announced numerous changes to take effect in the 2024 KCSE examinations in attempts to clip cheating. In a statement, KNEC’s chief executive, David Njengere, said these changes will now make candidates personally liable for examination malpractices.
This is one of the key changes: printing of the examination papers with candidates’ names, index numbers, and other particulars pre-printed. It will help prevent misapplication of examination papers by individual candidates to face consequences of any action in the event of any irregularity or misbehavior without loss to the many in the form of cancellation affecting an entire school or examination center.
Unlike in the past, Njengere explained that students will not need to write their personal information on the examination papers. There will be no extra answer sheets or question papers, and principals cannot photocopy the examination papers. Now, the candidate information section of the paper will be torn off after each examination to prevent examiners from identifying the candidates when marking the examination.
The council has also ruled out giving out extra exam copies to further deter impersonation, a rare form of cheating that exists. Private candidates, as well, will now sit for their theory exams at the County headquarters as opposed to the Sub-County headquarters as was the case earlier.
Njengere further indicated that only registered candidates will be allowed to sit for the exams, and they must take only those subjects they had registered for. This kind of rigidity comes after an extensive campaign on registration to ensure that all the details of the candidates are captured.
Other KNEC changes have been to improve the integrity of KCSE examinations, as evidenced by the number of candidates increasing from 903,264 in 2023 to 965,501 in 2024—a 6.89% increase.