CS Magoha bans non-academic activities as school reopen for third term

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has banned all non-academic events in schools during third term to curb examination malpractice.

Magoha further warned candidates and teachers from engaging in activities that might amount to examination malpractice.

The ban sits as a reinforcement of orders put in place by former Education CS Fred Matiang’i to curb cheating in 2016.

Matiang’i then issued an order banning candidates from proceeding to mid-term breaks and barred the traditional practice of prayer days that were conducted weeks before the examination.

“I want to be crystal clear that nobody in both private and public institutions will be allowed to interfere with the candidates as they prepare for their examination… So there will be no events in schools, no fundraising, no prayers or any other activities,” Magoha said in Machakos on Wednesday.

The new rules will also see the other students close by October 28th with the KCPE running from November 1st to 3rd while KCSE taking place from 7th to 30th November.

Other adjustments will see primary and secondary schools close early to allow standard eight and form four candidates sit national examinations in November.

Magoha said November will exclusively be an examination month, with the rest of learners in primary and secondary schools closing on October 28.

“We know that these events have in past been used for other purposes and this is what we are trying to avoid,” Matiang’i said.

KCSE candidates sitting this year’s examination also sit as a fourth lot of students to take the examinations under new stringent rules to curb cheating.

He added that this will improve preparation for KCPE and KCSE. This year’s KCPE will start from November 1 to 3, while KCSE will run from November 7 to November 30.

Knec data shows that 1.78 million candidates were registered to sit the 2019 examinations, whose registration deadline was February 15.

Of these, 1,089,671 were KCPE candidates while 698,935 students registered for KCSE, from all the 10,304 centres.

The KCPE exams will take place between October 29 and 31.

Rehearsal will be done on October 28 while the 2019 KCSE examination will take place between October 21 and November 27.

In 2015, examination irregularities left results for 2,709 KCPE candidates and 5,100 in KCSE cancelled and marked the last of widespread examination irregularity.