Quick release of KCSE exam results raises queries on quality

Tough guidelines by the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) saw the 2017 Form Four national examination results marked in less than a month.

But multiple interviews with examiners revealed that they were a pressurised lot, who had to conclude the exercise so that results are released on time.

President Uhuru Kenyatta had during his swearing-in directed that all candidates who sat the KCSE examination get their results before Christmas.

Knec provided tough guidelines during the marking of the examination, but examiners noted that some of them were not followed at all, especially on marking time, which was supposed to be from 7am to 7pm.

EXTRA TIME
But where there was a need to work beyond these hours, the chief examiner was required to liaise with the council for such extension.

An English teacher who spoke to the Nation narrated how they completed marking of the examination last Saturday by putting in extra hours.

“Previously, we used to do marking up to December 25 but this year we were under a lot of pressure. Even on Jamhuri Day, despite being a national holiday, teachers were not allowed to rest,” the teacher recalled.

The examiners were only given a 30-minute break to take tea and an hour for lunch.

“We used to mark the examination papers up to 10pm and wake up by 5am so that by 6am, we are already back into marking centres to continue with the job,” an examiner said.

“Doing the marking at a record time is okay but the fear is that we are compromising quality since we have to hurry and do it under a lot of pressure to beat the deadline and no one wants to lose their job,” the teacher added.
Another examiner narrated how on Saturday marking the scripts went on up to 1am.“We had to ensure that all mark sheets were in since most of the examiners had been released, leaving assistant chief examiners and chief examiners to complete the work,” an assistant chief examiner said.

PRESSURE

Knec chairman George Magoha on Wednesday fought off claims that the marking, which started on November 17 and ended on Sunday (December 17), was hurriedly done, insisting it was carried out according to plan.

KCSE practical examinations started on October 23 before paving the way for the theory papers, which began on November 6 and ended on November 29.

“We planned our work. For those papers done earlier, we decided that instead of people sitting idle, why don’t we start the marking process,” Prof Magoha said.

No examiner, he said, was forced to work overtime.

This year, the results were released 11 days earlier than last year’s.
Candidates were examined in 31 subjects using 76 papers.

They were required to sit a minimum of seven and a maximum of nine. Some 611,952 candidates sat this year’s examination.