THE BEST THIEVES HAVE IT ALL

By ADERO Greg

'Mwalimu come only if you have the real one.' This was the condition given to me when I tried to poke my nose in form Four West to have some final revision for History paper one which was to be done the next day morning. I only had a few mock papers and some predicted questions I had been sampling for revision.

As I remained standing by the doorstep trying to figure out which teaching theory to apply on these defiant students, I heard a voice, not sure of whom talked, but I guessed it was for Phyllis, the class prefect. "Sir, these people are loaded don't waste your time"

And now four months later, each student is to reap what he saw. The Cabinet Secretary for Education Dr. Fred Matiang’i yesterday officially announced the 2015 K.C.S.E results to mark the end of anxiety for most students.

According to KNEC, 5,101 candidates got their results cancelled with the rate of exam irregularities hiking to 70 cent. Throughout the country, cases of irregularities were reported in 305 centers. Out of 42 counties, it is only Isiolo County where no case of irregularity was reported.

The highest statistics were reported in Nairobi, Makueni and Meru counties which affected 151,382, 382 and 160 candidates respectively.

With this menace of exam cheating, I remain with a lot of questions concerning the future of the education sector.

What do they supervise? Is teachers’ work over? Will students work hard again? And who is to blame for this problem? Of course who to blame won't help at this moment but at least it can show us where to be careful next time. The teacher's promotion is based on student's performance. Won't I steal for them so that I am promoted now that I earn peanuts at job group G? Parents buy for their children the papers because the university is the limit these days, not the sky. And the vendors? KNEC officials.

I agree with KNUT Secretary General, Wilson Sossion, who commented that it is unfair to cancel the results of candidates due to exam irregularities because students don’t set exams and that the responsibility of exam irregularities rests solely with the examination council.