Show us our students’ KCSE scripts, Sing’ore Girls now asks Knec

Sing’ore Girls High School Principal Rose Koech displays some of the trophies the school has won over the years. [File, Standard]

The board of Sing’ore Girls High School, which shocked the country by dropping its Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam mean score by half, is taking the examination body head on over the results.

Through its chair John Chemweno, the school is demanding that the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) releases the scripts of the 350 girls who have since had to undergo counselling to come to terms with their poor scores.

In the preceding KCSE results of 2017, the school pulled a shocker, defeating the country’s traditional academic powerhouses, including Alliance Boys’ and Girls’, Mang’u High School and Starehe Boys’ Centre, with a mean score of 9.69 and sending all its 271 candidates to university.

Tables turned

But this time around, tables turned with the mean dropping to 4.8 and 295 candidates unable to attain the C+ minimum university entry grade.

And as schools reopened for the first term of 2019 on Thursday, angry board members and parents closed ranks in saying the results were not a true reflection of what the candidates scored in mock exams.

According to some members of the board who spoke to Saturday Standard, Sing’ore Girls examination centre was marked as an exam cheating black spot by some Ministry of Education officials who never believed that the school, located off Iten-Kapsowar Road in Keiyo North, would top the charts in the 2017 KCSE exam.

The school’s mean grade summary from KNEC indicates that three candidates recorded a Y, which means their results were cancelled.

One candidate scored an A-minus, four scored a B-plus as 10 obtained a B plain while 11 and 26 of them scored B-minus and C-plus grades, respectively, making it to the university.

Out of the 295 candidates who did not get minimum university entry grade, 47 scored C plain, 86 scored C-minus, 94 D-plus, 57 D plain, as 10 and one candidate scored D-minus and E, respectively.

“We, as parents, are going to demand for the raw results. We want the county education office to help us in this pursuit,” said Chemweno.

The board chairman claimed there was militarisation of the examination at the school because of heavy deployment of police, and this could have been part of the reasons behind the dismal performance.

“Our girls were intimidated by the heavy police presence during the exam period. The girls reported that they were followed by security personnel even to the toilets,” said Chemweno.

But Joseph Wamocho, the County Director of Education, said some people who felt the school cheated in the 2017 exam may have raised complaints, causing the centre to be marked as a cheating black spot.

“There were some rumours and suspicions and someone may have formally made a complaint,” said Wamocho.

He said Sing’ore was not an exception in deployment of additional security and intensified surveillance during the exam period, adding that St Patrick’s High School Iten and Moi Kapsowar Girls had a similar treatment but they did not complain.

Remarking

He urged the school parents and management to apply for remarking if they feel the results were not a true reflection of their expectations.

“The school has a right to apply for a remarking within 30 days. They only have to pay the required fee and follow the stipulated procedure,” said Mr Wamocho.

He however advised the school to accept the results and seek ways of improving their candidates’ performance in subsequent KCSE exams.

Last week, after the announcement of the results, the board of management and the parents association held a crisis meeting and resolved to demand the scripts of all their candidates from Knec.

Chemweno said the school will liaise with Ministry of Education to give the candidates a chance to re-sit the exam this year.