At least 23 Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) candidates did not sit this year’s national examinations after it emerged their school (private) did not register them with the national examiner.

The Grade Six candidates of Silver Bell Academy located in Kimumu estate on the outskirts of Eldoret town were shocked to learn the school management had not registered them for the examination which is administered by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC).

To add more pain and anguish to the candidates, their parents and guardians, the private school has not registered with the Ministry of Education since it opened its door for admission 19 years ago.

Uasin Gishu County Police Commander Benjamin Mwanthi confirmed the arrest of the school principal and director in connection with the incident.

Private academy

According to Mwanthi, the private school that boasts a population of 279 learners was initially operating as a daycare; it was converted into a fully-fledged private academy. The two were seized by detectives attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) unit and escorted to Ainabtich police station in the Moiben sub-county following protests from the affected candidates and parents.

“We are holding in custody the private school principal and director to help us with investigations over the failure of the institution to register its candidates for this year’s KPSEA national examination,” said Mwanthi.

Initially, the school principal (named with-held) had told the candidates on Monday that their examination materials had been misplaced and pleaded with them to be patients as plans were being made to ensure they sit for the KNEC set exam on Tuesday.

Received consignment

The police boss said that on Tuesday, the principal availed the examination materials, which he purports to have received the consignment from Nairobi to the candidates to sit.

Upon arrival, the police realised that the students were sitting for fake examinations in the unregistered school. Furthermore, the children, who were under the guise that they had been registered, found out that they had not been registered to sit for the national examinations.

It later emerged that the examination materials were not from KNEC but had instead printed ones from one of the cyber cafes in Eldoret town and edited to reflect the genuine materials that were distributed by the Ministry of Education to various public and private schools across the country.

Mwanthi said the exam in which the candidates were asked to sit was fake adding that they have seized the consignment as exhibits they will use against the two suspects once investigations into the matter are complete.

The Ministry of Education KNEC officials were still held up in a crisis meeting by the time of going to press.

The Deputy County Commissioner laid blame on the headteacher and owner of the school for scamming parents and students by issuing fake examinations portraying them as the original KNEC exams. Meanwhile, a total of 59,543 candidates are sitting the exam in Bungoma county.

Speaking to the press during the opening of the Examination container on Tuesday, Bungoma County Education Director Pius Ng’oma confirmed that the national examination kicked off smoothly in the whole county.

Disbursement of examination

“Today we have released our KPSEA exams that have begun and in Bungoma county, we have a total number of 59,543 candidates taking exams,” Ng’oma stated.

The county director further added that Bungoma registered 47,725 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination candidates saying that no difficulty has been reported in administering and disbursement of examination papers.

“So far, no difficulty has been reported in the administration of the two tests though there are some areas a bit far off but this year the Kenya National Examination Council added us one more exam container totalling to 14 containers in the entire county with Bungoma south having an additional container,” he said, noting that the move targets to reduce the dalliance and delivery of the exams.

Ng’oma also urged the public to ensure they give learners a conducive environment during the examination period.

“KPSEA is not an exam but an exercise that is assessing our students’ abilities,” he said.