Knec blames Grade E on Kenyans' appetite for academic certificates

The national examiner on Thursday blamed non-performance and poor performance in national exams on Kenyan's growing appetite for certificates.

Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) Chief Executive Officer Joseph Kivilu said some candidates sit for national examinations but cannot answer questions.
“Candidates are just keen to get the certificate that will indicate that they have completed secondary education, irrespective of what they score” he said.
On Tuesday, Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi instructed Knec to liaise with relevant stakeholders to set marks below which candidates will not be graded in the future.

“During the 2014 KCSE examination, a number of candidates scribbled illegible responses, while others just went ahead to replicate the questions as presented on the question papers,” said Prof Kaimenyi.

VULGAR STATEMENTS

He added that others presented responses in languages other than those those accepted for the examination, while others presented vulgar statements as responses.

Prof Kaimenyi said grades would only be awarded to candidates who are able to exhibit a certain level of mastery, as is done in other countries, starting this year.

Last year, the CS instructed the council not to grade candidates who do not attempt any question in the exams.

During the 2014 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education tests, 5,636 candidates scored grade E, compared with 7,042 in 2013.

About 70,677 candidates scored C- (minus) and 76,198 scored D+ (plus), with 73,501 scoring D (plain) and 47,716 got D- (minus).