Top performer credit given to wrong school

By MOSES NJAGIH and ROBERT WANYONYI

Kenya National Examination Council gave credit to the wrong school afterall.By MOSES NJAGIH and ROBERT WANYONYI

The confusion that marred the ranking of schools in the KCPE exams results came to the fore after it emerged that the examiner gave the wrong institution as having been the best in the country.

Knec owned up to giving erroneous results in the schools’ ranking, which saw Bungoma’s Marell Academy denied their rightful position as the best overall performer after managing a mean score of 411.78.

During the release of the results on Wednesday, Education Minister Sam Ongeri announced Gilgil Hills Academy from Nakuru County as the best performer, with a mean score of 410.45.

Teachers, parents and pupils of Marell Academy in Bungoma celebrate after Knec corrected an error and announced the school best performer countrywide in KCPE exam. [PHOTO: Benjamin Sakwa/Standard]

However, yesterday, amid complaints from a number of schools countrywide who were aggrieved by erroneous rankings, Knec made a hasty retreat and corrected the anomaly, rightfully installing Marell as the top performer.

Clarify anomaly

"The Kenya National Examinations Council wishes to clarify that Marell Academy was ranked the best private primary school with 411.78 while Gilgil Hills Academy was ranked second with 410.45 marks," noted a statement sent to newsrooms from the examination council.

By the time Knec was correcting the anomaly, the administration of Marell Academy had raised questions over the ranking, demanding to know why the school had not been ranked despite its sterling performance.

"We want to be told how they arrived at the top school because authenticated results in our possession show very well that Marell is the top school yet we are not appearing anywhere. Can the ministry clarify this?" asked Mr Ominde, school director.

The results, a copy of which was obtained by The Standard indicated that Marell registered a class of 31 candidates out of which 27 obtained over 400 marks.

The top student Lawrence Peter had 431 marks out of a possible 500 while the last student Baldwin Chitala scored 391 marks.

Yesterday, concerned parents and teachers had converged at the school to discuss the anomaly, where they accused officials at the Education ministry of working to sabotage their school. "We want the ministry to come out and explain why they locked out our school with such a high mean score. This is sabotage and we are ready to even take legal action!’’ lamented an angry parent.

Error Corrected

Apart from the anomaly on the Marell Academy, the examination body also owned up to making a mistake in rankings for public schools where it had failed to rightfully rank All Saints Kebulinik Academy and St Mathews Septonok, both from Nandi County, which were among the top performers.

"All Saints Kebulunik Academy and St Mathews Septonok both from Nandi County have also been ranked appropriately," stated Knec in their revised ranking.