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In an effort to combat cheating in national exams, the Kenyan Ministry of Education has banned parents, and others, from visiting students at the boarding school. . Moina Spooner's Conversation from Africa asked Callen Nyamwange to explain what lies behind the cheating crisis in Kenya's schools and what can be done to avoid it.
Cheating in Kenya schools is not widespread. new, its prevalence has increased significantly over the past 30 years.
It takes many forms, ranging from the shoulder of a colleague to steal answers, to individuals – such as teachers – selling exams or patches. A report on the Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education examinations of recent years by the Kenya Examinations Council has shown that teachers and candidates work together to beat the system, and sometimes use mobile phones to transmit documents related to the school. review
to badess the prevalence of cheating and catch those who do.
Even so, there is a disturbing increase in the detected cases. The number of Kenyan students caught cheating and punished by the national examination body during the Kenya Secondary School Certificate examinations in 2015 was less than 1% – or 5,101 applicants . This was 70% more than the 2,975 reported in 2014.
What about fallout?
The impact of cheating is vast
One possible effect is the retention or cancellation of examination results. This is a decision that can be made by the exam board. Over the past three years, the review body has canceled the results of more than 9,000 students.
Another possible result is the prosecution. Cheating is a criminal offense. If they are found guilty of having consulted examination papers and having disclosed their content knowingly, they run the risk of a penalty of being charged. imprisonment for five years or a fine of 5 million shillings ($ 50,000 US)
. clbadify the school and that students are not properly badessed, do not study, do not perform, do not enter the university and do not provide a skilled workforce.
Unfortunately, most cases of cheating went unpunished because of inefficiencies in exam management. More generally, the failure of eradication of cheating exams appears to reward mediocrity and to create a society that does not value honesty and hard work
Showing Why Students Cheat
To address the root causes of cheating, it is important to know why this is happening.
My research focused on why students cheat on national exams. I conducted interviews at Masaba South, in Kisii County – West Kenya. Research shows that cheating examination is influenced by several factors. The most common were:
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Poor preparation for exams (32%)
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Pressure from parents, teachers, peers, and society to get good marks (21.6%) and
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S & # 39, ensuring higher education, beating tough competition (13.8%).
Students also reported poor exam supervision (9.6%), a lack of essential equipment like libraries and labs (8.7%) and a lack of confidence (7.5%) .
What measures have been taken at the national and school level to address them
There are laws in Kenya's laws that provide for severe penalties, including imprisonment and imprisonment. almonds. But they are not used because the management systems are weak. These must be strengthened.
In the past two years, the Ministry of Education has taken steps to try to reduce levels of cheating. In order to reduce contact between candidates and foreigners, he banned a range of activities in boarding schools such as prayer days, family visits, breaks, sports, awards ceremonies and annual general meetings. There are 8,592 public secondary schools. Nearly half of them are full boarding schools or have a boarding section.
The ministry also shortened the period of examination of the Kenya Secondary Education Certificate from six weeks to four and directly placed the teachers responsible for the tests in their respective schools. schools. The goal is to shorten the window of cheating opportunities and ask the manager to report directly.
Do they work? What else could be done to prevent it?
It is still too early to evaluate the effectiveness of these new measures.
Here are some alternatives that schools might adopt:
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Set up an Internet firewall to prevent students from exchanging emails and instant messages that may contain exam questions or Answers
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Make sure students submit their papers to a plagiarism check
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Create a code of honor that recognizes ethical behavior and defines academic misconduct
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Encourage parents to support students, rather than overly pressure them to succeed
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Ensure parents stay involved in their teens' school life by reviewing homework and reading their essays [19659016] children identify cheats anonymously and ask teachers to develop multiple versions of tests to discourage students from sharing their responses via tex The Conversation [19] 459018] The conversation "height =" 1 "src =" https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99409/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic "width =" 1 "/> In the end schools and parents must work together if we want to have a chance to overcome the scourge of cheating.
By Callen Nyamwange, Lecturer in Psychology, University of Kisii
This article was published in the Originally on The Conversation. Read the original article.
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