Fourteen people among them students and teachers have been forced to spend their night in a police cell after attempting to cheat in the ongoing KCSE examination.
They include the owner of a private school where the cheating was orchestrated, the school’s deputy principal and other unnamed suspects who were involved in the malpractice.
Ministry of Education officials and heavily guarded police officers raided the Milimani Ramasha Academy previously known as Intercity Examination Centre located at Kiagoro in Nyaribari Chache Constituency and to their utter surprise, they discovered seven impersonators.
According to Education Cabinet Secretary Professor Magoha, the plan to cheat was executed in the full knowledge of the examiners in charge of that examination centre.
Speaking on Monday, Professor Magoha had forewarned parents in Nyanza when he confirmed that the government was fully aware of their plans to compromise the quality of examinations.
The parents had pooled money to bribe education officials so that they can get illegal access to KCSE examination papers.
Confirming the incident, education officials and police officers say they were tipped by the public.
The school principal has since disappeared.
TEACHERS-COME-CANDIDATES
Professor Magoha further explained that 11 people, mostly teachers had accessed the examination room in the pretence of being students to write an examination on behalf of some candidates.
The impersonators accessed the room with their photographs which had been embedded in the Kenya National Examination Council’s schedules to prevent any suspicion.
Consequently, all KNEC officials have been replaced and the genuine candidates who had been impersonated will be allowed to proceed with the examination.
The teachers involved will also face disciplinary action for trying to water down the quality of KCSE examinations.
Elsewhere in Thika, an investigation has been launched into yet another case of impersonation.