The Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC), through its lawyer Geoffrey Obuya, on Tuesday admitted to making mistakes in last year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams.
Mr Obura admitted before Justice Erick Ogola that a pupil who had previously scored 62% in the Science subject ended up scoring 73% after KNEC amended his script.
In another case, Mr Obura indicated that a student who had previously scored zero in Mathematics was awarded 81% after his script was revised by the commission.
Mr Obura in his submission highlighted that the mistakes were as a result of students not properly marking their scripts.
“It is true that there were some mistakes but the main problem lay with the pupils who shaded the wrong ellipses in the answer sheet," Mr Obura emphasised.
Meanwhile, documents filed at the court by Mr Macmillan Jengo – the legal counsel for Nyali parents association – showed that KNEC had committed more mistakes as six other candidates had their results upgraded after having been awarded very low marks.
Mr Jengo requested the court to grant an order allowing teachers access to marked scripts so that they can scrutinise the results and check whether more students were affected.
Human rights activist Okiya Omtatah also filed a similar request indicating that last year's KCPE papers were riddled with mistakes and in some cases, the questions had two correct answers.
The revelations come in the wake of education reforms in the country.
If not amicably addressed, the anomalies could injure the reputation of last year’s exams that were touted as the most credible in the country’s history.
The court is expected to make a ruling on 22nd May 2017.
