Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has caught everyone by surprise when he unexpectedly announced the results of the 2016 KCPE exams today, way earlier than the traditional period, which is usually after Christmas.

Even more astonishing is Matiangi’s revelation that for the first time in history of national exams in Kenya’s not a single candidate has had their exam cancelled due to cheating, as there was none.

The education CS said that there were 21 incidents of exam malpractice across the countries, which were handled.

“This year the exam did not leak at all and am proud to announce that for the first time in the history of KCPE exams none of the candidates will have their exams cancelled this year because of cheating,” Matiang’i said, adding that the 21 cases of attempted exam malpractice are the lowest in the history.

Last year, exam cheating rose to a high 70 percent, which was higher than the previous year. 5,101 candidates who sat for 2015 KCSE had their results cancelled and it’s indeed historic that there was zero cases of cheating in the 2016 KCPE exams.

2016 KCPE candidates performed dismally compared to 2015

The top student in this year’s KCPE scored 436 marks compared to 449 marks last year, which Matiang’i says if ranking was to be done, the candidate would not be among top 90 in last year’s exams, which were characterized by rampant cheating.

4,190 pupils scored over 400 marks in 2016 compared to over 7,000 pupils in 2015.

Ranking system

The Education Cabinet Secretary also said that the ministry is still working on a system to rank schools and candidates and therefore did not do the ranking in the 2016 KCPE exams.

“Parliament passed an amendment to the Kenya National Exams Council Act, which requires us to rank schools in the order of a system we will have to establish through research, consultation and we are working on it,” he said. Adding that the amendment was passed in October and it was too late for us to have that system in place.

Private exam centers fuel exam cheating

Matiang’i has also said that the education ministry will no longer allow “private candidates” to sit for exams in private centers saying that this is what fuels exam cheating.

“We will never again have those private centers where people do exams behind shops, anyone who is registered as a private candidate will have to seat for their exams in ministry of education institution because most of these private candidates are cases of impersonation where people do exams for others, and these are the people who have been fueling cheating,” the CS said.

Pay exam fees for candidates

Matiang’i has also said that pupils who score over 400 marks, whether from public or private schools will be able to join national schools of their choice and also announced that the government will from next year pay examination fees for all candidates, whether they are in public or private schools.

Matiang’i has also announced another first by stating that Form One students will now report to their respective schools on January 9, 2017 and not in February as is the norm and that the form one selection process will kick off immediately.

“The selection of Form One students begins immediately. We are not going to wait until the following year like previously,” Dr Matiang’i said.

How to Check Your KCPE Results

2016 KCPE candidates can check their results by texting their index no. to 22252.