Panic in schools as no nonsense prof Magoha takes over education docket

School heads who have been running cartels in falsifying national candidates registrations have a reason to be worried, very worried.

The no nonsense professor George Magoha is just a vetting away from taking over the ministry.

A report tabled in Parliament recently by outgoing Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed listed duplication of birth certificate numbers and typing errors of birth entry numbers as some of the challenges the ministry had faced on data management.

During the registration process, schools are expected to enter details of correct birth certificates and legitimate photographs of candidates.

Candidates’ names, school codes and subjects to be written are also entered accurately.

Knec Chief Executive Officer Mercy Karogo said the council was shocked by the behaviour of some school heads and parents.

“We are investigating these cases and we have also roped in other Government agencies to help us unravel what happened,” said the CEO.

She insisted that parents, candidates and school heads of the affected centers must validate the registration data. “We shall not process these candidates for the national examinations unless the correct data is entered because we use clean data.”

Karogo said some school heads breached instructions that required them to sign forms.

All heads of institutions were instructed to ensure all candidates’ registration details were captured correctly and every candidate asked to confirm the same by signing a nominal roll.

It is now turning out that some candidates did not verify their data, or there was collusion. It also emerged that some teachers signed for their candidates, contrary to the rules.

Knec is also investigating reports that some examination centres used fake data to register students to avoid being stripped off their centre status. The centres are expected to have a minimum number of candidates for Knec to retain them.

This year, Knec said new schools wishing to be listed by Knec as examination centres must submit valid registration certificates from the county Director of Education, an inspection report from the sub-county office, and a dully-filled application form.

Knec registration instructions require that schools with between six and 15 candidates be hosted in established centres. “The hosted school will retain its code during registration of candidates. Schools with less than five candidates are advised to register their candidates in another approved examination centre,” the guidelines read.

Knec has also been reforming the registration process of candidates with a new directive on index numbers. Karogo instructed school heads to ensure candidates were allocated index numbers based on the admissions list.

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