Oruba Boys High School students, on January 10, expressed their displeasure by staging protests outside the office of Migori County Director of Education after recording D’s in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).
72 out of the 75 students at the school claimed that they recorded D’s, two scored C- and one scored an E.
In an interview with the media, the students disclosed that they had never recorded such a dismal performance in their entire school life and thus argued that the results were counterfeit.
“We sat for the exam's 75 candidates but what we saw was unexpected. It is full of irony. We haven't seen this thing for sure,” one of the students, Djijon Omondi lamented.
Following the release of the examination results, the students attempted to reach out to their school principal and his deputy but none of them was available even by phone.
Their efforts to have the county education office address their grievances were futile as junior staff directed them to file the disparities with the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC).
Out of frustration, the students retreated to march in the streets while carrying banners. They, however, did not disclose whether they or their guardians would visit KNEC offices or seek legal redress in court.
Conversely, a section of parents and students also stormed into two schools in Nandi County after missing out on their results due to unknown reasons.
Students from the two schools, Samoei Boys Secondary in Nandi Hills and Taachasis Girls in Tinderet accused KNEC of withholding their results without providing reasons why.
Cabinet Secretary for Education, Ezekiel Machogu did not disclose whether KNEC withheld any results but ordered stakeholders to probe the mass failure of the 2023 KCSE candidates.
Speaking while releasing the results at Moi Eldoret Girls High School on January 8, CS Machogu claimed that 2023 recorded an an all-time high of E's in Kenya's examination history.
“I am pained by the fact that a large number of candidates (48,174 or 5.33%) still ended up scoring 38 a mean grade of E in the 2023 KCSE Examination even after the Ministry used a more flexible system of computing the final overall candidate results,” Machogu commented.
The CS, furthermore, did not address concerns by parents who claimed they received different results after downloading slips for their candidates. One parent lamented receiving two slips indicating that his child had scored mean grades of A- and B+.
