- Hesbon said it is important and it's time for the nation to look into what is causing certain people to sit together to plan cheating in national exams.
- He said the people overseeing the exams need to have integrity while administering the exams.
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Kenya National Union of Teachers Deputy Secretary General Hesbon Otieno has claimed that there are cartels who aid learners in exam cheating.
Speaking in an interview on Citizen TV on Tuesday, Hesbon said there is no way learners can cheat at an institutional level all by themselves during a national exam.
"Before cheating appears in a school, it is something that has been planned and not for a short time. It is something that people have worked on," he said.
"How it is possible for learners to give similar responses to the same question? I think in a period of two hours in an exam room, that cannot be achieved unless it was properly planned."
Hesbon said it is important and it's time for the nation to look into what is causing certain people to sit together to plan cheating in national exams.
He said right from the security, the invigilator, the school administration, supervisors and anyone manning the exam should know how cheating happens.
He said there is a major problem if the police officers overseeing a school can not notice ongoing cheating.
"Cheating is something cartel-like. So what we need to look at is where does this cartel come from," Hesbon said.
Further, Hesbon said the people overseeing the exams need to have integrity while administering the exams.
He said most times, it is not the learner's idea to cheat in an exam
"It is the adults who are abetting this. It is the adults who are introducing learners to cheating. In fact, the learner is very innocent," Hesbon said.
Hesbon's sentiments come in as Form Four candidates across the country are sitting for their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exams.
The candidates started their KCSE on Monday with practical papers. 903,260 candidates have been registered for this year's KCSE.
The candidates shall sit their practical papers the entire week until Friday, October 27.
The practical exams include orals for French, German, Arabic, Kenya Sign Language and music.
Home Science students will do their practicals between October 30 and 31.
The KCSE exams will end on November 24 with Physics practicals.
Following the announcement of the 2022 KCSE exams earlier this year, allegations of exam malpractice were rife.
The National Assembly Education Committee moved to probe the allegations on January 27.
The committee found that exam malpractices in the 2022 KSCE included collusion to share answers, use of mobile phones in exam rooms, impersonation, smuggling of unauthorised written material, leakage, and plagiarism among other techniques.
Knec said it is working to ensure there will be no cases of malpractice in the 2023 national exams.