The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has acknowledged an error in the printing of the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).
The glitch in the system resulted in the absence of minus signs (-) for certain grades. Consequently, some students received grades like D (plain) instead of D- (minus).
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This issue came to light during a session where Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu and KNEC Chief Executive Officer David Njengere faced questions from the National Assembly Education Committee regarding discrepancies in the 2023 KCSE exams.
During the meeting it was revealed that 3,018 candidates across 1,059 examination centers nationwide were affected.
KNEC clarified that while the online portal displayed accurate results, discrepancies were confined to the printed rolls distributed to schools.
Corrected printouts were promptly provided to affected schools.
students sitting for their KCSE examination; Image/KNEC
Members of Parliament expressed concern over the distress caused to affected students and the confusion stemming from the errors.
CS Machogu emphasized that the Ministry of Education had taken preventive measures.
A technical team, including representatives from the Ministry of ICT and the Digital Economy, the National Computer and Cybercrimes Coordination Unit, and the ICT Authority, submitted a report on March 4, 2024.
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Recommendations included the establishment of a multi-sectoral ICT committee to oversee the examination process and conducting regular load tests to assess system capacity.
KNEC was tasked with upgrading its IT infrastructure and implementing continuous performance monitoring to preemptively identify potential issues.
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Early this year CS Machogu released the 2023 KCSE examination results. However, concerns arose about the results’ authenticity when parents noticed discrepancies upon logging into the KNEC official portal. Grades for various subjects had changed, prompting alarm among stakeholders.
