The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) recently admitted to a significant error in the printing of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results for 2023.

This revelation came during a session with the National Assembly Education Committee, where Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu and KNEC Chief Executive Officer David Njengere were questioned about discrepancies in the grades of candidates.

The identified glitch in the system led to the omission of minus signs (-) for certain grades. Consequently, some students received grades without the minus sign, such as a D (plain) instead of the correct D- (minus).

According to KNEC, this error impacted 3,018 candidates across 1,059 examination centers nationwide. However, KNEC assured that the online portal reflected accurate results, and the discrepancies were confined to the printed nominal rolls distributed to schools.

To address the issue, KNEC promptly distributed corrected printouts to affected schools. Nevertheless, concerns were raised by Members of Parliament regarding the distress experienced by affected students and the confusion resulting from the errors.

CS Machogu emphasized that measures had been taken to prevent similar occurrences in the future.

A technical team, comprising representatives from the Ministry of ICT and the Digital Economy, the National Computer and Cybercrimes Coordination Unit, and the ICT Authority, was formed to investigate the matter. The team submitted its report to the Ministry of Education on March 4, 2024.

Among the recommendations made was the establishment of a multi-sectoral ICT committee to oversee the examination process, from marking to result release.

Additionally, regular load tests were suggested to assess system capacity. KNEC was tasked with upgrading its IT infrastructure and implementing continuous performance monitoring to proactively identify potential shortcomings.

The release of the 2023 KCSE examination results on January 8 raised concerns about their authenticity. Parents noticed discrepancies when comparing the results obtained from the KNEC official portal with those provided by schools. Several schools reported different grades for various subjects, sparking alarm among stakeholders.