KNEC Confesses Giving Some 2023 KCPE Candidates Wrong Marks
KNEC was revealed to have erroneously awarded some candidates wrong marks and assigned grades for subjects candidates did not sit for.
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The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has confessed that it released some results containing errors as a huge shock emerged regarding discrepancies in the recently released Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) results.
KNEC acknowledged to Citizen TV receiving complaints from candidates as well as various schools, with Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr David Njengere stating that candidates have a window of 30 days.
During that period, they are allowed to question the system and address any issues with the examination body through the sub-county director of education.
Njengere however apportioned blame on the Short Message Service (SMS) provider, indicating that the challenges candidates encountered moments after Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Ezekiel Machogu released the KCPE results to members of the public were not on KNEC but on the SMS provider.
Education CS, Ezekiel Machogu during a past address. /FILE
He added that the matter was raised early on Friday, November 24 with the service provider and has since been addressed.
KNEC was revealed to have erroneously awarded some candidates wrong marks and assigned grades for subjects candidates did not sit for.
Also revealed were identical scores that were assigned different grades, and instances where candidates received higher grades for lower scores.
For example, one of the KCPE candidates in Kisii was among the many students who were awarded marks erroneously.
She was awarded a grade A plain in English, contrary to what is in the portal which indicated that she scored an A minus. Furthermore, she was awarded marks for the Kenya Sign Language subject instead of the Kiswahili language in which she was examined.
The student scored English 72B, Kiswahili, Kenya Sign Language 81A, Mathematics 84A, Science 76A, and Social Studies and Religious Education 80A scoring a total of 393 marks.
Another case showed the results of a candidate who scored English 84A, Kiswahili 29D, Kenya Sign Language, Mathematics 88A, Science 76A, and Social Studies and Religious Education 84A, scoring a total of 361 marks. That candidate raised an alarm over his Kiswahili paper marks claiming that only his Insha marks were recorded.
Moreover, some candidates received the same marks but different grades. For instance, a score of 74 marks in Social Studies and Religion resulted in a B plain grade in one case, while a different candidate with a score of 73 marks in the same subject received a B plus grade.
Many candidates have since urged KNEC to review their KCPE results, a day after the announcement by CS Machogu, with the top candidate scoring 428 marks.
Speaking on Thursday, November 23 at Mtihani House, Machogu revealed that over 1.4 million pupils sat for the exams.
The CS however revealed that 9,354 candidates failed to sit for the KCPE 2023 exams but promised that the Ministry would conduct thorough mapping and administer a special examination in January 2024.
“To ensure that no candidate misses out on joining Form One from the final 2023 KCPE examination cohort, the Ministry of Education will conduct thorough mapping of any of those who may have failed to sit their examination this year in order to administer a Special Exam in January 2024,” he announced.
