kilam
JF-Expert Member
- Aug 5, 2011
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The Kenya National Examination Council has come under scathing attack after it emerged that the KCSE exam Kiswahili Paper Two had glaring mistakes.
The exam had to be delayed after students countrywide identified three questions that had anomalies, forcing invigilators to seek direction from Knec.
A senior education officer, who declined to be named, said officials from Knec had to be called after students noted “screaming” anomalies.
“In one of the questions the students were to refer to a statement that was supposed to be underlined but on checking there was nothing of the like,” the source said.
In another question, there were glaring spelling mistakes that confused students, the official said.
The situation worsened after it emerged there was not enough space to answer questions, the source said.
“Officials from Knec were informed and advised the students to start using foolscaps to address the space anomaly,” the source added.
But as the students were winding up, the exam agency directed that they transfer all the material back to available space on the examination paper.
“The students were given only five minutes to transfer the materials and this was very unfair as many did not manage to do this,” the official said.
A teacher said they expect poor performance in the Kiswahili paper due to the anomalies. The teacher said the questions and “conflicting” directives from Knec confused students.
A student said they were not given ample time to answer the three questions that had anomalies. The student said they were caught by surprise by the directive to answer some questions on foolscaps and then later given five minutes to transfer them to the exam paper.
Confl icting orders on Kiswahili paper that had anomalies
The exam had to be delayed after students countrywide identified three questions that had anomalies, forcing invigilators to seek direction from Knec.
A senior education officer, who declined to be named, said officials from Knec had to be called after students noted “screaming” anomalies.
“In one of the questions the students were to refer to a statement that was supposed to be underlined but on checking there was nothing of the like,” the source said.
In another question, there were glaring spelling mistakes that confused students, the official said.
The situation worsened after it emerged there was not enough space to answer questions, the source said.
“Officials from Knec were informed and advised the students to start using foolscaps to address the space anomaly,” the source added.
But as the students were winding up, the exam agency directed that they transfer all the material back to available space on the examination paper.
“The students were given only five minutes to transfer the materials and this was very unfair as many did not manage to do this,” the official said.
A teacher said they expect poor performance in the Kiswahili paper due to the anomalies. The teacher said the questions and “conflicting” directives from Knec confused students.
A student said they were not given ample time to answer the three questions that had anomalies. The student said they were caught by surprise by the directive to answer some questions on foolscaps and then later given five minutes to transfer them to the exam paper.
Confl icting orders on Kiswahili paper that had anomalies
