Kenya’s Education Ministry has sounded the alarm over continued exam cheating, even as the number of offenders drops compared with last year. Officials say the cases remain “worrying” given the sheer scale of this year’s candidates.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba said 418 candidates were linked to exam malpractice during the 2025 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations. He spoke on Friday in Okerenyo, Nyamira North, while presiding over the opening of the final set of papers.
“While stakeholders have demonstrated commendable integrity, isolated cases of malpractice were reported during the administration of the 2025 KCSE,” he said. “418 candidates were reported to have engaged in examination malpractices compared to 614 candidates in 2024. This is despite the fact that this year we had the largest number of candidates at 3.4 million.”
The Ministry says investigations are still under way. Anyone—whether an individual or institution—found involved will face penalties laid out in the KNEC Act of 2012. These include deregistration of entire examination centres, nullification of results and, in some cases, criminal prosecution.
Mr Ogamba said impersonation remains the gravest offence. Any candidate found guilty, he warned, “will be barred from sitting the KCSE until 2027.”
A widening net
The remarks come against a backdrop of a wider national crackdown on cheating during the ongoing exams. In recent weeks, nineteen people, including centre managers, have been arrested across the country for alleged involvement in irregularities.
A special police team deployed to track fraud in the examination system has also detained five suspected impostors in Nairobi and Kericho. Police believe they were writing papers on behalf of registered candidates.
KNEC officials seized seventeen mobile phones from students in two separate incidents in Marsabit County, in the Moyale and Saku constituencies. Phones remain one of the most common tools used to access leaked material, despite strict bans in exam rooms.
Siaya, Samburu, Kericho and Kitui recorded the highest number of arrests. In Siaya, Rachar Secondary School was singled out after five people—including the principal, an invigilator, a centre supervisor, the school secretary and even the cook—were detained.
In Samburu’s Maralal town, three officials from Moi Girls High School were also arrested: the centre manager, the supervisor and the dean of studies.
The Ministry has defended the heightened enforcement, saying it is essential to protect the credibility of national exams and ensure fairness for the millions of candidates who sit them each year.
A fuller report from KNEC and law enforcement agencies is expected once the exams conclude.