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Exam malpractice is a highly organized "industry" between school proprietors, officials of the State Ministry of Education, officials of West African School Certificate examination, invigilators, machineries and the students themselves. According to a study, this is a result of poor implementation of examination rules, no fear of punishment, inadequate preparation for the exams, the disloyalty of examination body staff and students and parental threats. Many parents prefer to bribe the examiner rather than pay for extra lessons for their child, which may still not result in examination success.

Following a high-level meeting last Friday, top officers from the police service, the Ministry of Education and the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) will be dispatched to six parts of the country to investigate reports of plans to cheat in the forthcoming national examinations. The chairman of KNEC warned principals against collecting money from parents to buy fake examination materials for their candidates.

In South Africa, an incident at a school in Soweto revived the debate over false teacher qualifications. This week, a former primary school teacher stabbed a director who had suspended him. The teacher was dismissed after the school discovered, following a complaint from parents, that he had lied about his qualifications and had no diploma. According to the South African Council of Educators, dozens or even hundreds of teachers lie about their qualifications.

The new rules spelt out by the Education Cabinet Secretary to curb cheating in national examinations signal the government’s determination to restore credibility in the country’s education system. For the past few years, the country has been grappling with rising cases of examination cheating, which reached ridiculous levels last year to the point where the public lost faith in the sanctity of the exams as schools, candidates, parents, examiners, and education and security officers were all roped into the cheating loop. More bold action must be taken to restore the credibility of the exams.

The Minister of Primary and Secondary Education last week slammed the parents for paying Form One entrance examination fees saying they did that at their own peril as the Government has set an enrolment date for all the schools in the country. He said the entrance exams were banned long back by his ministry and have remained illegal and should not be left to continue. Enrolment of Form One students for next year started yesterday with parents expected to use their children's Grade Seven results.

The Kenya National Examination Council has warned KCSE candidates and their parents against buying a fake Chemistry exam paper being circulated. The Council will intercept fake papers and take legal action against individuals found circulating and selling them.

Most secondary school authorities handed over the first term report cards to their students with various remarks. Those who attended classes regularly and worked hard during the term had good averages while others who played games and occupied drinking spots during school hours brought home fake report cards to impress their parents. The "ghost" students were last Friday seen in cyber cafés scanning and modifying their reports cards.

A member of the commission responsible for the examinations at the end of the first cycle of secondary (BEPC) and 50 other persons have been arrested. According to the police, they stole copies of the tests before the start of the exams. Using new technology, they swiftly copied the questions and put them on sale for students and parents in some areas of the country.