CS Machogu dismisses ‘malicious propaganda’ against Kisii, Nyamira KCSE results

Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has dismissed concerns of alleged malpractices in the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam whose results were released in January.

Appearing on Thursday before the parliamentary Committee on Education for responses in regards to the Inquiry on the alleged malpractices, Machogu said the performance of Kisii and Nyamia counties, which have been at the centre of attention over their good results, has been blown out of proportion.

“There has been a portrayal in the mainstream media and social media that schools from certain counties achieved extraordinary scores. Kisii and Nyamira Counties have especially been targeted,” the education CS said.

“Contrary to this propaganda, Kisii and Nyamira counties actually had the least number of Grade As in the Nyanza region. Siaya County had the highest number of As in the Nyanza region with 72, followed by Homa Bay and Migori with 62 and Kisumu with 59. Kisii was the second last County in the region with 51As while Nyamira was the last County with 30As. Kiambu topped with 226As.”

The results announced by Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu on January 20 drew mixed reactions from Kenyans, with some alleging cheating.

This was after schools in some counties recorded what was perceived to be extraordinarily good performances.

Case in point was Nyambaria and Mobamba high schools, both in Nyamira County, which had all their 488 and 388 candidates respectively securing the C+ minimum university entry requirement. Mobimba had a mean score of 5.11 in 2021, which it raised to 9.28 in last year's exam.

According to Machogu, Kenya’s performance in the high school exam is lower than in Uganda and Tanzania.

“It is worth noting that compared to our neighbours, the pass rate in our 2022 KCSE Examination is much lower. The 2022 KCSE examination recorded a quality pass rate of 19.62% (C+ and above). For equivalent, the pass rate in Uganda's Certificate of Education was 61.36%; Tanzania had 36.95% in its Tanzania Certificate of Secondary Education,” Machogu told the committee.

He said Nyambaria High School, for instance, was being unfairly targeted.

“It had 28As. In terms of the number of A grades nationally, the school was actually position 13. As a National School, Nyambaria High School admits students from the same pool with other national schools,” Machogu said.

He dismissed any reports of cheating as rumours.

“In previous years, there are people who had 200 marks (in KCPE), and there is a guy who had 175 marks during Magoha time and got a Grade A (in KCSE). You can get a guy who gets 400 marks in KCPE but in KCSE he gets a C it is a new challenge that needs a new response,” he said.

He added; “What our students got was the real grades. The KCSE 2022 examination was credible.”

Through a public notice dated February 2, Clerk of the National Assembly Samuel Njoroge said the Committee on Education had resolved to conduct a public inquiry into the allegations and make recommendations to the House.

Njoroge said the committee also seeks to examine the measures taken by the Education Ministry and the Kenya National Examinations Council to curb examination cheating and other malpractices to end their adequacy.

Among those who raised concerns was Saboti MP Caleb Amisi, who called for a probe into the alleged rigging.