The Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) has admitted that there was an error in the marking of the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam, which affected 133 candidates across the country.
According to KNEC CEO David Njeng’ere, the error occurred due to a technical glitch in the optical mark recognition (OMR) machine, which scans and processes the answer sheets. He said that the machine failed to capture some marks in the multiple-choice questions, leading to lower scores for some candidates.
Njeng’ere said that the error was discovered after a thorough audit of the results, following complaints from some schools and parents who noticed discrepancies in the performance of their candidates. He said that the council has rectified the error and updated the results of the affected candidates.
He apologized to the candidates, parents, teachers and stakeholders for the inconvenience caused by the error and assured them that the council has taken measures to prevent such incidents
He said that the affected candidates had their marks increased by between one and 15 marks, depending on the number of questions that were not captured by the machine. He said that the error did not affect the ranking of the candidates or the selection of secondary schools.
He also revealed that the council had received 1,181 cases of malpractice, which involved 1,088 candidates and 93 officials. He said that the council had cancelled the results of the candidates involved and taken disciplinary action against the officials. He warned that the council would not tolerate any form of cheating or irregularity in the national examinations.
He congratulated the candidates for their hard work and resilience, especially in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, which disrupted the school calendar and learning activities. He urged them to pursue their dreams and aspirations in secondary school and beyond.
He also thanked the teachers, parents, examiners, security officers and other stakeholders for their support and cooperation in ensuring the smooth administration and marking of the examination. He said that the council was committed to ensuring the credibility and integrity of the national examination system.
