At least 840 candidates had their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results cancelled due to involvement in examination irregularities during the 2024 exams.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba confirmed on Thursday that the cancellations are part of efforts to safeguard the integrity of the national examinations. According to Ogamba, the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) is legally empowered to take such action under the law.
“The council is empowered in law, as provided in the Kenya National Examination Council Handling of Examination Irregularities Rules of 2015, Legal Notice Number 132 of 2015, Rule Number Eight, to withhold the results of any candidate or examination centre suspected of having been involved in an examination irregularity or malpractice pending completion of investigations,” Ogamba explained.
In addition to the cancellations, the CS revealed that the results of 2,829 candidates have been withheld over suspected examination malpractice. These results are under review, with a final decision expected within 30 days of the official release of the examination results.
“It is unfortunate,” the CS remarked, acknowledging the challenges posed by exam malpractice. He emphasized that KNEC remains committed to ensuring fairness and upholding high standards in the examination process.
The 2024 KCSE exams, which began on October 28, were taken by 965,501 candidates across 10,755 exam centres nationwide. The Ministry of Education recorded 621 cases of malpractice across 198 examination centres during the assessment period.
To ensure efficient marking, the government increased the number of examiners to 32,800 in 2024, compared to 29,876 in 2023. Ogamba further noted that results for the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) have already been released.
