Members of the National Assembly Education Committee, led by Chairperson Julius Melly (Tinderet MP), on Wednesday raised concerns about the Kenya National Examination Council's (KNEC) practice of charging for text messages used to check candidates' examination results for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).
The committee's chair argued that it was unfair to charge parents for results, especially during the tough economic times. Previously, parents had an issue accessing the results since the platform had broken down.
"Considering the hard economic times, the charges are an extra load to already overburdened and struggling Kenyan parents," Melly remarked.
He was addressing KNEC CEO David Njeng'ere, Basic Education PS Dr. Belio Kipsang, and other top council officials who appeared before the committee.
On the matter, Njeng'ere clarified that the revenue generated from the premium-charged SMS is shared among mobile network operators, the SMS service provider, and KNEC.
He further explained that the money is disclosed in KNEC's Annual Accounts and is shared between the council and the service provider at a ratio of 80:20.
PS Kipsang, on the other hand, defended the SMS charge noting that the same results are available on the school portal for free.
However, the PS remarked that many Kenyans prefer the SMS option due to its speed and timeliness.
Despite the explanation, MPs were unsatisfied and demanded more investigation into the charges to be presented before the committee.
The lawmakers further grilled the education officials over the results of the 2023 KCPE results after an uproar from parents, students, and leaders. The MPs demanded to learn how students could score similar marks in one subject.
However, the PS dismissed the claims adding that the results shown on social media were not the same as the ones in the said schools.
Kipsang revealed that they had carried out investigations and the students did not score similar marks as claimed online.
"We shall table everything that may have caused an uproar Thursday when we appear before the committee at Parliament," the PS stated.
