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Shock, Anti-Climax Over Withheld Exam Results
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 03 July 2007 07:01
In Kisii High School - where results for 197 candidates were cancelled by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) - a shocked Principal Patrick Monyenye defended the institution, saying they were innocent but was quick to add that they were investigating the fiasco.Some candidates were being interrogated with a view to establishing the cause of the problem.
Monyenye, who is also the chairman of the Nyanza Secondary Schools Heads Association, was at pains to explain what might have befallen one of the oldest and top performing schools in Nyanza.
Speaking by telephone, he said he was yet to receive the KNEC report on the reason for the cancellation. Together with information gleaned from the students, he said, the report would provide the basis for action.Monyenye nevertheless promised to issue a statement on the progress of investigations later.
In 2003, Kisii High School was ranked the best provincial school in Nyanza, with a performance index of 8.754.Meanwhile, 10 Kisii MPs asked the Government to carry out thorough investigations to establish circumstances, which led to the cancellation of results of over 450 students in the three Gusii districts of Kisii, Nyamira and Gucha.
The MPs at the same time demanded the remarking of the examination.Led by Kitutu Masaba MP Mwanja Okioma, the leaders said they were ready to meet remarking expenses.
Finance Assistant minister Henry Obwocha said Kisii High School had never been implicated in exam cheating in the past 30 years.Outraged parents asked the Government to clear the air over the irregularities."We were very hopeful about the group of candidates at this school last year and somebody must be out to punish our children for nothing," said Mr Ibrahim Ombongi at the school.
The parents said they had spent over Sh280,000 each to prepare their children for the exams."We were paying over Sh70,000 per year but all this has been rubbished by the cancellation," said Mr Daniel Anyieni.Nyanza Provincial Director of Education Abdulahi Abdi said his office would also investigate the cheating.
Nationally, 1,739 candidates from 107 schools had their exams cancelled over irregularities out of which 600 were from schools in Nyanza.In Migori, which had the fourth highest incidence of cheating after Kisii Central, Nyamira and Gucha, it was an anti-climax of sorts for 47 candidates in four schools who turned up at their respective schools only to realise that they had been withheld.
