The 1.4 million candidates who sat for the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) will know the schools they have been selected to join on Monday.
Education Director-General, Dr Elyas Abdi said the 2024 Form One placement exercise will be announced at the Lenana School on December 18.
This is the last cohort of the KCPE in the 8-4-4 system ushering in the Competency-Based Curriculum.
In a letter to all Regional Directors of Education and the County Directors of Education, Dr Abdi invited stakeholders to a meeting that will be chaired by Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu.
“The agenda of the meeting will be the implementation of education programmes at the field offices and schools across the country. The CS will also release the results of the 2024 Form One placement exercise in the same venue,” Dr Abdi said.
The National Parents Association chairperson, Mr Silas Obuhatsa urged the Ministry of Education to ensure fairness in the selection.
This comes as some of the 2023 KCPE candidates, whose results had discrepancies, said the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) is yet to rectify the anomalies.
This is despite numerous letters written to the examination body by parents, schools and the candidates over the irregularities in the KCPE results.
Some parents have gone to the Knec headquarters seeking redress. The candidates now want Knec to give them another exam once schools reopen for the first term next year alongside more than 9000 others who missed the KCPE examinations.
On November 23, while releasing the national tests, Education Cabinet Secretary, Ezekiel Machogu said 9,354 candidates will sit for a special test in January to ensure the last cohort under the 8-4-4 does not miss out on Form 1 admission.
A thorough mapping of all candidates who missed the tests will be conducted. This comes as the Ministry of Education continues with Form 1 placement, ahead of schools reopening next month.
For instance, John (* not his real name) got an English A (78), KSL B (68), Mathematics A (82), Science B (72), and SSR A (78) totaling 378.
“I knew I would nail the exams after preparing only to get errors in my results yet I did not sit for Kiswahili Sign Language. I was disappointed because I had prepared myself psychologically that I am an A student,” said the student.
Speaking to the Nation at their Mombasa home, the 14-year-old boy who used to top his class said the anomaly in the exams has traumatized him.
“It is sad that President Ruto has not uttered a word on this grave matter that will affect our future and lives forever. We all had ambitions to go to top national schools but with this crisis that has interfered with our results, we won’t meet our goals,” he added.
John wants to join Alliance High School or Mang’u Boys High School. He has been undergoing counseling since the results were announced, but he remains hopeful that the State will address the anomaly.
“I wanted to become a doctor, but I have changed my mind, I will do law because I can act and fight for the rights of those deprived of their rights just like me. Mr Danstan Omari is the only lawyer who has fought for Kenyan children. I want him to know that he is my hero,” he added.
Last month, Knec's chief executive officer, David Njengere, said some candidates had a misalignment of the marks and grades in Kiswahili as they were placed in the Kenyan Sign language.
There were also cases where the grades in Science and Social Studies and Religious Education were truncated incorrectly and were missing the plus (+) and minus (-) signs as expected. The errors affected only the SMS results due to configuration issues.
However, Dr Njengere assured the parents, teachers and candidates that the results are accurate in the Knec portal.
“The council Rules of 2015 Legal Notice 131 on the marking of examinations release of results and certification, Rule 27, provides for candidates or schools to lodge appeals for review of the examination results,” Dr Njengere noted.
However, some teachers who spoke to the Nation on condition of anonymity said nothing has changed.
“On Wednesday, we logged into Knec's portal, with my son’s teachers. He still has KSL 68 instead of Kiswahili. Knec is yet to rectify the errors. Why did Knec rectify some results and leave others? Why discriminate some and favor others?” John's mother asked.
A group of parents of the 2023 KCPE candidates now want President William Ruto to intervene on the matter.
Last month, the High Court declined to halt the Form One selection exercise which began on November 27, 2023, pending hearing and determination of cases challenging the integrity of the recently released KCPE results.
On November 25, 2023, Knec acknowledged receiving queries from candidates with low marks in some subjects, mainly English and Kiswahili.
The council said it received appeals from some schools that were dissatisfied with the results as received by candidates or schools through the SMS code 40054.
“Knec reviewed all the appeals and found that there were 133 candidates affected. These cases have all been addressed and results for the affected candidates updated appropriately,” Dr Njengere said.
However, some parents, teachers and candidates are still in anguish over the 'poor' KCPE grades.
Another parent from a public school, said her 14-year-old daughter is still traumatized by the results. She said her daughter has been crying since she got the results.
Her results were Mathematics B (66), Science B- (62), KSL B (70), English B (69), and SSR 73 (B) totaling 340.
But at the Knec portal, my daughter had Kiswahili B+ (70), English B (69), KSL= =, Mathematic B (66), Science B- (62), SSR B+ (73) totaling 340.
“So which grade is genuine? I decided to physically go to the Knec headquarters and we were told to be patient, they were assessing everything,?” wondered the mother.
Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary Machogu said the State is rolling out the New Higher Education Funding model.
“The Government has already disbursed Sh9.2 billion in loans and scholarships to first students in our universities. The new funding model places students at the center and accurately aligns government funding to the accurate cost of programmes in each university,” Machogu said during University of Nairobi's graduation ceremony.
Mr Machogu said the State is actively exploring avenues to address the substantial debts owed by universities to other government agencies such as the Kenya Revenue Authority, National Social Security Fund, and NHIF.
“I wish to thank our Vice Chancellors for keeping our First Year students in their institutions to attend to their lecturers as we processed their loans and scholarships,” he added.
However, he urged Universities to bear with the State as it systematically and methodically addresses their financial difficulties together, and in line with the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms Report’s recommendations.
The CS said the transition from the 8-4-4 curriculum to the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) is currently underway.
He said the new curriculum is designed to equip Kenya with the necessary skills for industrialization and to mitigate the high rates of unemployment.
“Under the CBC, it is essential for universities to collaborate closely with industries to produce graduates with the right skill sets demanded by the market,” Machogu said.
He also said universities must establish training facilities, secure resources, and foster global partnerships that ensure Kenyans' educational quality is on par with the best in the world.
