'Over 400,000 sit Form 4 exams amid Necta warning against cheating'

A TOTAL of 408, 442 Form Four students are from today sitting their Certificate of Secondary Education Examinations (CSEE), with the National Examination Council (NECTA) issuing a strong warning that it will not hesitate to take serious actions against anyone who will be caught cheating Out of the number, 355,995 are school candidates and 52,447 are private candidates, according to NECTA executive secretary Charles Msonde. 

He told a press conference yesterday that all the materials have been distributed to 4,727 secondary schools and 1,006 examination centres.

“About 59 out of the registered candidates are those with typical sight problems, whereas 283 have slight sight problems. Last year, the total number of registered candidates was 448, 382,” said Msonde.

The exam which is expected to end on November 18, 2016, will be run simultaneously with Qualification Test (QT) which has 20, 634 registered candidates, according to Msonde.

Necta reminded all examination supervisors to stick to ethics throughout the exam period; saying that the council would not hesitate to take serious legal actions against any culprit.

Msonde also called on the public to collaborate with authorities in unearthing cheating acts; but at the same time respecting all examination centres by avoiding trespassing and letting students do their examinations with enough conformity.

The council warned of results nullification for students who would dare engaging in cheating; reminding them that there was no room for examination re-sitting for anybody who will be proven to have engaged in dishonest acts during the exams. 

“This is according to the existing examination rules and law. We insist that there is no room for re-sitting,” said Msonde.

Last week, Necta announced PSLE results, whereby results for seven schools were nullified due to cheating. The council insisted on verification of over 500,000 pupils who were declared to have passed the exams, so that they could identify more cheatings.