Kenya Opens New Portal To Curb Academic Dishonesty

Kenya’s race to rid the country of fake certificates is quickly gathering momentum with 74 public universities registering to list their graduates in a central database that will lock out academic cheats.

The registration exercise by the institutions to be considered as Qualifications Awarding Institutions will close on September 30.

The universities are expected to register the qualifications they award, followed by registration of the graduates on the Kenya National Learner’s Records Database by December 1 this year.

The database will display all records of graduates from primary school to university level.

Speaking during a consultative meeting with the Auditor General, Nancy Gathungu, the Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA) chair, Kilemi Mwiria, explained that the authority intends to ensure that people seeking employment have genuine academic documents.

The authority will employ a multi layered approach set in place to reduce opportunities and access points for hackers to ensure that only authorised users are authenticated to access the data.

A portal will also be opened for members of the public to verify their qualifications. In case of mismatch or any other form of discrepancy, such cases may be reported to the institutions, which will have the rights to correct such anomalies.

Mwiria noted that institutions in rural areas that have no electricity or internet connectivity will also benefit as ‘Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation and Ministry of ICT intend to connect electricity to all learning institutions, and the connection of all learning institutions to the national fiber grid.

As the institutions start sending in their data, the authority says it has put mechanisms in place to ensure data verification and integrity.

A recent report from KNQA reveals that one in every three Kenyans holds fake academic documents.

On July 8, Abdalla Mohamed, a candidate who had been shortlisted for a commissioner’s job at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission was forced to withdraw from the interviews after the Kenya Methodist University disowned his degree.

Early this year, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, which started a crackdown on fake certificate holders in formal jobs, has indicated that they will partner with the KNQA to uncover the fraudsters.