The Impact Of Examination Malpractices On The Academic Performance Of Pupils In Masinga Division, Yatta District-Kenya

ABSTRACT

Cheating in examination is a very bad habit that has disadvantages for all the parties

involved. The student, teacher, the school and even the examination council all stand to

lose when students cheat in examinations. Examination irregularities in Kenya have been

found noted at every release of the KCSE results and few measures have been put in

place to curb the vice. The underlying objective of this study was to investigate into the

Nature and causes of National Examinations irregularities in Kivaa, Masaku schools.

In particular, the study tried to answer the following questions.

What are the different in-egularities connected to KCSE, National Examination?

Does the student attitude towards examinations have any effect on their performance in

National examinations?

What are the different factors that contribute to examination irregularities?

What are the different measures that can be put in place to curb this vice?

The population of the study consisted of the Headteachers, 40 teachers, 100 students from

classes, seven, eight, form three and form four. The research instrument used in this study

was two part questionnaire, part A elicited information on personal Data and professional

qualification. While part B elicited responses on examination invigilation and

irregularities. Descriptive statistics was used in this study where frequencies, mean and

mode were utilized to explore the variables under the study.

It has been revealed that the respondents are aware of different examination in-egularities,

that there are leakag~ impersonations, external assistance, smuggling of foreign material,

copying, intimidation, substitution of scripts, improper assignment and ghost centres among others. All the respondents gave several reasons as to why pupils engage themselves in examination irregularities.