When Education cabinet secretary Ezekiel Machogu announced the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam results, John* was over the moon.
He expected to get over 400 marks to secure a slot in a national school. However, his joy was short-lived when he received the text message indicating he had scored 378 marks. He noticed an error in the results.
One subject that he did not take appeared. He had scored 68 marks, graded as a B, in that subject. There was a blank next to the subject he actually did. His scores were English (78 - A), Kenya Sign Language (68 - B), mathematics (82 - A), science (72 - B), and social studies (78 - A).
“He did not sit for Kenya Sign Language but he got those results. My son has not spoken since the results were announced. He has not eaten, he has not spoken and his phone has switched off. I am worried,” the mother of the 14-year-old boy, whose identity we are protecting, told the Saturday Nation .
John has always been the top pupil at the primary school in the Mikindani area of Mombasa and his teachers expected him to be among the top candidates.
CS Machogu releases 2023 KCPE results
“My son does not have a disability. How come he got those results (for sign language)? We are disappointed. The Kenya National Examination Council and the Ministry of Education should explain what happened,” added the mother, a small-scale businesswoman.
“The teachers are also in shock. My son is in shock. I am scared,” she said.
Many other candidates called the Nation newsroom to complain of similar errors in their results and also erroneous grades.
We sampled some of the results sent and confirmed their concerns. For example, 10 candidates had the same mark but have different grades. This made some candidates and parents question the authenticity of the results.
When contacted by the Saturday Nation for an explanation, Knec and the Education ministry did not immediately respond to our queries.
But an official, who did not want to be named, said that the errors were only in the text messages received on Friday by those who sent a request through the short code provided. He noted that the results in the portal were correct.
“It appears that there was a configuration issue in the way the messages were received, but the result slip on the portal for schools has no errors. That’s the official report and candidates should get those ones from schools. We have also fixed the error and if they send a message right now, they’ll get their results,” he said.
On Friday after the release of the results, there was a delay on the relaying of the results via the text messages, a problem that was also blamed on a technical glitch. The issue was later resolved.
The Knec official explained that the cases reported for Kiswahili and Kenya Sign Language (KSL) was an issue of “alignment” and the same has also been fixed. In some cases, candidates from a school would all have grades for the KSL and blanks for Kiswahili.
A parent at Amani Primary School in Mombasa also said her daughter’s Kiswahili results were missing but she had been graded for Sign Language.
“She was always getting 420 marks and above in her exams. We don’t trust the results. We are questioning the results,” said the mother, whose identity we are not revealing.
Her daughter has been crying since she got the results, she said. The family has sent a letter to Knec demanding an explanation and remark on all the subjects. Her results were Mathematics B (66), Science B- (62), KSL B (70), English B (69), and SSR 73 (B).
“But we have gone to Knec portal and Kiswahili B+ (70), English B (69), KSL= =, Mathematic B (66), Science B- (62), SSR B+ (73). So which grade is genuine?” wondered the mother.
Meanwhile, some schools also contested results their candidates received.
The Moi Primary School Kabarak administration has written to Knec to complain about their results. This was communicated through a letter to the parents. Usually, Knec allows for formal complaints from dissatisfied schools and candidates.
Meanwhile, some teachers and parents in Meru County complained that candidates were not awarded fair marks.
A school head teacher said although the school led in Meru County with the first pupil attaining 418 marks, they would write to Knec expressing their dissatisfaction.
“Our pupils, who have been performing very well did not get the marks we anticipated and we will complain about it,” she said.
