The Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) has defended its reputation and denied any allegations of corruption or misconduct during the administration and marking of the recently released KCPE results.
According to a report presented to the National Assembly Committee on Education and Research dated December 6, 2023, the KNEC said that it followed proper procedures throughout the entire process of the 2023 KCPE examination.
The report emphasized that the exam was not rushed, but took the timeline approved in the KNEC reforms of 2016.
“The examinations as administered from October 30 to November 1, 2023, and processed from November 1 to November 18, 2023, were conducted in accordance with the established guidelines,” read part of the report.
Prior to the reforms, the administration and processing of the exams results took approximately five weeks, starting in mid-November and ending on December 24.
According to KNEC, the processing of the 2023 KCPE examination results followed the due timelines and utilized OMR machines for reading the Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) answer sheets, as well as marking the English composition, Kiswahili Insha, Kenyan Sign Language composition, and papers for learners.
To spell fears of malpractices, KNEC noted that they used approved standardization process to ensure a fair comparison of candidates’ performance across all subjects.
This process involves adjusting the raw marks for each paper to account for differences in difficulty and mark distribution.
They further claimed that the results in question are consistent with the trends observed over the past eight years.
The percentage of candidates with 400 and above has ranged from 0.54% to 1.09% since 2016. In the 2023 KCPE, 0.60% of candidates achieved 400 marks and above, which is similar to their performance in 2020 (0.68%).
Similarly, the percentage of candidates with 300-399 marks has ranged from 21.10% to 24.94% since 2016. In 2023, 24.92% of candidates fell within this range, which is very close to the percentage in 2022 (24.94%) and shows no significant deviation from previous years.
On the truncation and misalignment issues, KNEC attributes to configuration problems on the interface used to retrieve result data from the service provider’s database by mobile network operators.
“The problem only affected the results accessed through the SMS services,” the report read.
Earlier today, the opposition leader Raila Odinga issued a statement questioning the management of the exam, urging the relevant authorities to conduct swift investigations.
By Amos Kerich
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