Former Nyanguru Secondary School students in Kisii have been unable to join college after the Kenya National Examination Council issued them certificates with errors.
The certificates of students who sat their KCSE in 2015 had a mix-up in photos and names.
School principal Pamela Morang’a said the anomaly occurred during the processing of the documents by Knec in Nairobi.
“We are already working to resolve the matter. There had been some bottlenecks but we are doing our best," she told the Star on the phone.
She said the school dispatched the entire batch of the affected certificates to the Kenya National and Examinations Council and are still awaiting a response.
Last week, angry parents stormed the school and locked up the principal's office in a desperate search for answers regarding the delay and the students' predicament.
“For close to four years now my child has been unable to join college because his certificate bears a wrong photograph. Can't someone kindly address our plight?" Naftali Momanyi, one of the parents, posed.
Some parents said the delay to rectify the anomalies has put the candidates' future in peril.
"If they did their examinations in 2015 and it is now 2019, it means they have wasted four precious years chasing to have the errors corrected. This is not right at all," Irene Ongaro said.
Job Kebwaro, one of the affected students, lamented that he cannot secure even short-term contracts that require proof of basic education.
But speaking in Kisii, a county education official said only the affected candidates can follow up with Knec for the certificates to be amended.
“The issue of errors on certificates can be handled by the former students because they are the ones who had submitted the wrong information. As a department, we can’t intervene," Kisii county director of education Pius Wang’ombe said.
Last year, the government warned that it would not rectify certificates of candidates whose photographs failed to match their names, citing possible cases of collusion to cheat.
Knec said many fraudulent activities take place during the rectification of photographs after releasing the initial certificates.
A council official said cases of impersonation had been rampant, with some candidates using impersonators to do examinations for them.
The agency urges schools to ensure the photographs attached on candidates' papers are legitimate and accurate.
Knec further blamed such mix-ups to carelessness on the part of teachers keying in the candidates' information to examination registration platform.
