The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) will include details of individual candidates in the 2024 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) papers to curb cheating.
According to KNEC, each paper will feature the name, index number, and school of the candidate it is intended for.
As a result, KNEC will not provide extra question papers.
KNEC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Njengere says photocopying of question papers remains prohibited, and the personalization will cure impersonation, an examination malpractice whose prevalence remains a concern.
Further, he said that the personalization will help track individuals involved in cheating rather than penalizing entire schools or examination centers.
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“At the end of each paper, the part containing the candidates’ details will [be] torn off and packed separately to guard against the examiners identifying the candidates during marking.”
Additionally, he said the personalization will disallow candidates to sit for subjects they did not register for, unlike in the past when KNEC allowed this in what it called “under-protest” candidates.
He said this will also prevent unregistered candidates from sitting for the exams because KNEC will have no extra question papers.
“What we are saying is that we shall personalize the examination papers so that each candidate will have their details already printed. This means that in case of malpractices, we shall ask the candidate why they allowed their paper to be used by someone else,” said Njengere.
Njengere said private candidates will sit for theory papers at the county headquarters, unlike in the past, when they sat for exams at the sub-counties.
The CEO also said 41 containers have been added to exam collection centers to enhance double-collection capacity and stem early exposure.
He also explained that KNEC will pack examination papers in separate cartons for morning and afternoon sessions, with the afternoon papers remaining sealed during the initial collection.
The practice of collecting papers twice daily, introduced in 2023, aims to prevent any premature access to the exams.
