Kenyan examinations authorities are insistent on the enforcement of a law that serves 10 year jail sentence to those caught cheating in exams reports The Standard.
New guidelines that are part of reforms to curb examination scam in the East African country are offering stiffer penalty for cheats unlike previous penalties of just loosing exam results.
With the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations set to kick off in November 7th, the Kenyan authorities hope to inhibit candidates, invigilators and examinations administrators from participating in any cheating.
“Any person who gains access to examination material and knowingly reveals the contents, whether orally or in writing, to an unauthorised party, whether a candidate or not, will be in violation of Section 27 of the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) Act and the penalty will be imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, or a fine not exceeding Sh2 million or both,” according to the guidelines
Those caught impersonating legitimate candidates face a two year jail term or a 2 million Kenyan shillings (19768 US dollars) fine,If the imposter is a students, he/she will be barred for three years from sitting for an exam .Those who damage exam material can be fined Sh5 million (9884 US dollars) or be jailed for five years.
Examination candidates who carelessly expose their examination answer book will also face punishment.
“Do not leave a sheet of paper you have written on or your answers in such a position that another candidate can read them. You should not give or obtain unfair assistance, or attempt to do so, whether by copying or in any other way, and your work should not show proof of such unfair assistance,” said Knec acting CEO Mercy Karogo
