| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to investigate into the factors that contribute to cheating in
examinations in public secondary schools in Nairobi West District. The study used the
descriptive survey because it enables data collection from a large sample. The study targeted
23 registered public secondary schools in Nairobi West District which have a form four
student population of 2,585, 23 principals and 594 teachers. In order to obtain a required sample for the study, the researcher begun by grouping schools into categories i.e. boys
boarding (National), boys boarding (provincial), girls' boarding (national), girls boarding
(provincial) boys' day (provincial), boys day (district), girls day and mixed day secondary
schools. The researcher ended up with 2 boys boarding (national) schools namely Lenana
School and Nairobi School, 2 boys boarding (provincial) schools i.e. Dagoretti High and
Upper Hill, 1 girls' boarding (national) school namely Kenya High, 5 girls boarding
(provincial) schools i.e. Moi Girls, Nembu Girls, St Georges, Precious Blood Riruta and
State House Girls High School, 2 boys day (district) schools namely Kangemi High and
Mutuini Secondary, 1 boys day (provincial) Milimani High, 2 girls day schools i.e.
Parklands Arya and Ruthimitu Girls, 8 mixed day schools i.e. Lang'ata High, Dagoretti
Mixed, Karen "C" Secondary, Ho~pital Hill, Olympic Secondary, Ruthimitu Girls,
Highridge Secondary and Lavington Secondary. To select the sample for this study, the
researcher used stratified simple random sampling technique to select one school from each
category and 2 schools from the 8 mixed day schools, thus ending up with 1 boys boarding
national school (Lenana School), 1 boys boarding provincial school (Dagoretti High), 1
girls' boarding national school (Kenya High), 1 girls boarding provincial school (State
House Girls High), 1 boys day district school (Kangemi High), 1 boys day provincial school
(Milimani High), 1 girls day school (Ruthimitu Girls) and 2 mixed day schools i.e. Lang'ata
High and Dagoretti Mixed making a total of 9 secondary schools. This means that the 9
headteachers participated in this study. To get the sample size of students the researcher used
stratified simple random sampling to select 10 form four students in each school which led to
a sample of 90 students. The researcher equally used simple random sampling technique to
select 3 teachers from each of the sampled schools, which led to a sample size of 27 teachers .
In total 126 respondents were selected for this study. The research instruments used in the
study were questionnaires for teachers and students and an interview schedule for
headteachers.
It is clear from the findings of the study that public secondary schools in Nairobi West
District were experiencing incidences of examination cheating. The findings also show that
students were motivated by various factors such as lack of enough time to prepare for
examinations, pressure from parents and teachers, the need to pass examinations and
progress in their careers and so as to please teachers, parents and peers with good results.
The study also revealed that students had devised varied types of cheating which included
students writing on papers, clothes, mobile phones, desks and their body parts. They also use
short notes they use for cheating as well as assisting each other and getting assistance from
teachers, parents and invigilators.
The school environment was also found to be contributing to cheating in examinations by
students doing examinations from examination rooms that are not properly arranged to
facilitate an examination coupled with poor supervision from those administering the
examinations. It was also revealed that students are assisted by teachers to cheat in
examinations. The findings further reveal that students found it easy to cheat in examination
as a result of failures as well as compromising those administering the examinations.
The study also revealed that cases of examination cheating were being handled in schools by
papers from cheating students being withheld and not being marked, giving warnings to
offending students and deducting marks from cheating students. The study also established
that teachers would try to fmd out from students why they are cheating, punishing cheating
students, suspending cheating students from school, offering guidance and counselling to
cheating students, results of cheating students being cancelled, cheating students being
expelled from school, embarrassing cheating students infront of the rest of the school and
calling cheating students' parents to school.
The study recommended that students should be sensitised against cheating in examinations,
guidance and counselling be provided or improved to help students to desist from cheating in
examinations, departments/bodies to be charged with the overseeing of examinations in
schools should be formed or strengthened to enable them supervise examinations, new rules
be formulated based on the changing cheating techniques so as to make supervision of
examinations more effective and students be spaced away from each other adequately to
avoid copying from each other or a:iking each other questions during examinations. The
study further recommended that the syllabus be covered in time to pave way for adequate
revision for examinations, students found cheating in examinations be adequately punished
to deter them from engaging in the vice and also to serve as a lesson to other would be
offenders and that students be adequately and properly checked before being allowed into
examination rooms. In view of the limitations and delimitations of the study, the researcher suggests that a similar study be carried out involving parents given that the findings of this study have
indicated that parents are equally very much involved in examination cheating in public
secondary schools, a similar study be carried out in other parts of the country given that
examination cheating has been identified as affecting all parts of the country and that a
similar study be conducted incorporating examination council officials since it has been
established that examination-irregularities happen even after examinations have been done in
schools. | en |
