While top schools across the country were celebrating the release of the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results after a stellar performance, a group of former students in Migori County staged a protest over dismal results.
Students who sat their KCSE examinations at Oruba Boys Secondary School last year took to the streets on Tuesday to protest over what they termed as shocking results.
The candidates said their scores did not reflect their academic abilities. They also said their grades will greatly limit their career choices.
The students demonstrated outside the Ministry of Education offices in Migori town on Tuesday to register their displeasure with the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec).
Efforts by Nation.Africa to get a comment from the school's management were unsuccessful, but one of the senior teachers at the school, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the school's management committee would soon hold a meeting to chart the way forward, including petitioning the Ministry of Education.
John Omondi, one of the 75 candidates in the school, said he was shocked when he received his results on his mobile phone.
Former students of Oruba Boys Secondary School in Migori County protest over the poor results in the 2023 KCSE on January 9, 2023.
Photo credit: Courtesy
"I was not expecting to get a D for my hard work. I was fully prepared for the exams and I knew I would score better grades," he said.
"In an examination, there must be top candidates and those who get low grades. But in our case, we got almost similar grades, which does not make sense," he said.
Gordon Okinyi said he was similarly surprised by his low grades, which he said were way below what he used to get when he was in school.
"We expected to celebrate based on how we have been performing. It is however surprising that our top candidates got a C-," he said.
"The Ministry of Education should check the great disparity between the results we have been getting in internal examinations and our final scores in KCSE," he added.
Tony Omondi said it would be difficult to distinguish him from a school dropout because of his poor grades.
"Where do I go with a D? All my future plans have been ruined," he lamented.
