Court suspends registration for special KCSE exams

The High Court in Kisii has suspended the registration of candidates for the newly introduced mid-year KCSE exams following a petition by Dr Magare Gikenyi.

In a suit filed at the High Court in Kisii County, Dr Magare Gikenyi claimed that there was no evidence that public participation was undertaken.

“Other parts of the guidelines were made without any stakeholders consultation and or without public participation,” stated Gikenyi in his petition.

He had sued Kenya National Examinations Council, its CEO Dr David Njengere, CS Ministry of Education Julius Ogamba, and the Attorney General over the proposal.

The Kenya Secondary School Heads Association, Kenya Private School Association, and the Kenya Parents Association are listed as interested parties.

In his application, Gikenyi noted that the mandatory nature as opposed to choosing either to sit on July or November’s examination series goes against the right of every individual to choose an examination that is convenient to the candidate.

"The abrupt change in examination dates without involving the affected learners and the public is against their legitimate expectations," he said.

Gikenyi observed that the actions of KNEC and the Ministry were not in the best interest of learners.

He cited conflicting pronouncements made by the CS Education and KNEC.

"While the CS stated that adult candidates may also consider registering for the July KCSE series examination, KNEC's guidelines stated all repeaters and private candidates must register for the July series, and not the November KCSE examination series, essentially giving conflicting guidelines." the petition stated.