Police have arrested a man in Kajiado County on the first day of KCPE exams kick off trying to sneak an exam into one of the examination centres.
The man who is a security guard was allegedly attempting to sneak fake exam papers into an exam centre.
The suspect has been taken for questioning to aid investigations.
#UPDATE: Police arrest a security guard in Kajiado for allegedly attempting to sneak fake exam papers into an exam centre; suspect questioned to aid investigations. #KCPE2018 pic.twitter.com/WCYHb0QwbW
— NTV Kenya (@ntvkenya) October 30, 2018
His arrest just comes amid tight security measures to curb exam cheating.
Education CS Amina Mohamed yesterday said the exam is secure and no cheating threat had been reported.
The candidates are today sitting for maths, English and composition after a day of rehearsals. A total of 1.06 million candidates are sitting the exams. Last year, the number of KCPE candidates stood at 1.02 million.
“All preparations have been made. We have visited a number of schools just to make sure everything is in place from index numbers, sitting positions and invigilators,” Amina said yesterday at Olympic Primary School in Kibera.
This is the first national examination that will be conducted under the watch of Amina as Education CS.
Some of the tough measures that will be adopted this year include the order that all centre managers cannot transport examination materials unless accompanied by armed officers.
Head teachers who double as centre managers have also been asked to ensure exams are only placed in one of the examination rooms where all candidates, armed police and examination invigilators will have a full view.
The aim is to prevent a practice that developed last year where some schools prematurely opened the second paper of the day, usually starting at 11.30am, thus exposing it to candidates before the actual examination begun. Centre managers have also been instructed not to carry mobile phones into examination rooms.
“We do not have credibility issues in the KCPE examination. So far so good,” Amina said.
Candidates in conflict-prone areas have also been transferred to new schools. Ministry statistics reveal 2,417 candidates in 65 schools have been affected by conflict and displacement.
Security officers have been deployed to all exam centres to foresee the ongoing of the whole exam process.
Security officers have also foreseen the opening and dispatching of exam materials to exam centres.
Will this arrest give links in the arrest of many more other people trying to distribute fake exam papers that aid exam cheating?