Garissa leaders say they are likely to sue the Kenya National Examinations Council for cancelling results of 500 students and 12 schools for malpractices, including cheating.
Knec withheld the results of Busra High, Nanighi, Ikhlas, Al Azhar, Dertu Girls, Young Muslim, Garissa Private, Sankuri, Hajji Girls, Hulugho Girls, Hulugho Boys and Huda.
The cancellations were announced in Nairobi on Tuesday by Knec chairman George Magoha. He said the exam body cancelled the results of 3,427 candidates countrywide over exam irregularities.
Magoha said the candidates are from 44 centers, saying negligence of some officials contributed to various malpractices.
Overwhelming evidence showed the candidates were guilty of cheating, he said.
we won’t sit by
Speaking separately to the Star, leaders said they were exploring the option suing Knec. They included Balambala MP Omar Shurie, Garissa Knut executive Abdirizak Hussein and Fafi MP Abdikadir Osman
Speaking in Sankuri, where results were cancelled, the Balambala MP asked how the students could have committed malpractices, considering the exam was strictly supervised and papers guarded.
“What Knec has done is criminal and cannot go unchallenged in a court of law. As leaders, we won’t sit by and watch as our innocent children are forced to pay for crimes they did not commit,” Omar said.
Abdirizak said the students were disillusioned by the cancellations and warned that they could be driven to engage in crime.
“We deliberated and came up with a common stand. The most likely route is the courts,” the Knut executive said.
He said the cancellation was intended to “punish our innocent young boys and girls whose only crime was to sit for the exam.”
When the Star visited Sankuri Secondary, the school administration declined to comment.
most to resit exams
A teacher speaking on condition of anonymity said, “There is nothing much to say about the latest development. As teachers, we are as shocked as the students who had their results cancelled.”
The Star has learnt, however, that the majority of the students are willing to repeat Form 4 this year and sit the exams again.
The Knec chairman said the students are free to register for the 2019 exam instead of waiting the three years provided by law.
Registration, which began on January 2, will close on February 15 and applies to the KCPE, KCSE examinations and those wishing to register for KCSE Qualifying Test (QT) exams.
On Monday and Tuesday, Migori director of Education Beatrice Otieno, principals, parents’ representatives and board members of the five schools met in Nairobi to discuss cancellation of the results.