KNEC Admits Error That Led to Results Discrepancies of 3,018 Candidates

Months after the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results were released and some candidates raised concerns, the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has acknowledged a system error that resulted in mistakes in the printed nominal rolls.

The new revelations come after Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu was questioned regarding Grade Discrepancies at Kililai Secondary School in the 2023 KCSE Examination.

This followed a request made by Igembe South MP John Mwirigi.

In a statement shared by Parliament on Wednesday, April 10, it indicated that according to documents submitted before the Education Committee, KNEC officials encountered technical difficulties during the printing process, leading to the omission of minus signs (-) for some grades. 

"This means some students' grades were printed as, for example, a D (plain) instead of a D- (minus)," KNEC officials stated as quoted by Parliament.

The Committee was informed that 3,018 candidates across 1,059 examination centres nationwide were affected by this error. Kililai Secondary School was one of the affected institutions.

Members of the Committee raised alarm over the distress the affected students experienced and the confusion in the errors caused in the affected schools. 

KNEC assured the Committee that the online portal reflected the accurate results. The discrepancies were solely in the printed nominal rolls distributed to schools. The council has since delivered corrected printouts to affected schools, including Kililai.

According to CS Machogu, the Ministry of Education has taken steps to prevent similar occurrences in the future. 

"A technical team was constituted, with representation from the Ministry of ICT and the Digital Economy, the National Computer and Cybercrimes Coordination Unit and the ICT Authority. By a letter dated 4th March 2024, the team submitted its report to the Ministry of Education", CS Machogu stated.

The recommendations according to CS Machogu include establishing a multi-sectoral ICT committee to oversee the examination process from marking to result release and implementing regular load tests to assess system capacity. 

KNEC will also upgrade its IT infrastructure and implement continuous performance monitoring to identify potential issues proactively.