The Linda Jamii group led by Prof Fred Ogola is pushing to have all the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results recalled over allegations of irregular moderation.
Addressing the media on Tuesday, Ogola alleged that the moderation was effected in the 2023 results to save on government expenditure in university capitation.
According to the group, the government wanted to achieve a certain target of students proceeding to tertiary levels, to cut down university funding by Ksh67 billion.
Thus, only 201,133 students got the entry mean grade of C+.
Additionally, the group also wondered about the alarming increase in students who scored Grade E. In the 2023 examinations, 48,174 students scored E, which is a 56 per cent increase from last year's 30,822.
“Has the government explained why there was a delay in releasing these results? They were supposed to be released last year. It is because when the results came out, the students performed very well that they took these results to be moderated at State House.
“Out of the Ksh128 billion shillings allocated to fund higher education, by making students fail, 52.4 per cent failure means that they are going to save Ksh67.8 billion,” he stated.
While the government is yet to respond to the claims made by the lobby group, Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu noted that the 2023 results were based on a new grading system that relied on the student's best subjects.
The grading system, he added, was beneficial to the students and would open many career opportunities for the candidates.
"The new reform measure will allow a larger number of students to pursue courses of their choice at the universities, Diploma and TVET training at Certificate and Artisan levels than was previously when the grading was more restrictive," he stated.
However, the CS also expressed concern over the number of candidates with grade E, further calling on education stakeholders to investigate the matter.
Meanwhile, some students have also lamented over the 2023 results, noting some abnormalities in the grading of results. For instance, students of Oruba Boys in Migori County called on the examination council to remark their papers after a majority of them scored D.
The Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) was also accused of releasing results with errors after some students who downloaded their slips multiple times received different grades.
KNEC has yet to address the concerns or give a way forward.
