A Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) supervisor says students abducted and beat him in Kwale County after he refused to help with exam cheating. The Eastleigh Voice named him as Julius Ndurya. He was supervising KCSE exams at a secondary school in Kinango sub-county. Kenyans.co.ke and Tuko call the school Vingurugani, while the Eastleigh Voice spells it Vibugurugani.
Ndurya suffered serious head injuries and a fractured hand in the Wednesday evening attack. Speaking to NTV, he said someone offered him KSh 50,000 on Monday to overlook irregularities. He refused. According to Kenyans.co.ke, he said the attack came after that refusal. He said some teachers and local education officials had tried to help candidates cheat.
Ndurya said a teacher sneaked unauthorised exam papers into the exam room. He seized them and locked them in his locker as evidence. The papers were later stolen, he said. A quality assurance official then summoned him to the Kinango education offices, he said. According to his account, the official told him to work with other teachers or face a bad report on him and the exam centre.
Ndurya said the attackers, whom he described as boys, told him not to return to school and threatened to kill him. He said he pretended to be dead, and they left. Kenyans.co.ke reported that they took what little money he had. He is now recovering at home.
He has reported the attack at Kinango Police Station but says he still fears for his life. "I'm not safe. I suspect that now this deal has many people in hand," he told NTV, the Eastleigh Voice reported. He also claimed that some teachers and local Ministry of Education officials knew about the cheating plan but did nothing. The reports carried no response from those officials.
Police have opened investigations into the attack, the alleged cheating and the people who may have been involved. Investigators are expected to establish whether the assault was directly linked to the cheating scheme, the Eastleigh Voice reported.
Other cheating cases have surfaced this exam season, Kenyans.co.ke reported. On Friday, 12 students from Kitonyini High School in Machakos County were barred from finishing their KCSE exams. They were allegedly found with mobile phones in the exam area. Education CS Julius Ogamba has warned parents, candidates and the public against fake websites and social media groups claiming to offer exam papers in advance.