Bungoma’s cream school Marell Academy has been put on the spotlight after Knec released a list of schools involved in irregular exam practices.
According to the national exam body, these schools do among other things registering ‘weak’ students differently from those they perceive to be of better performance.
The mean score that is then used to rank is the one attained by the stronger candidates which is then publicised to show that the schools performed well.
According to Nation, other schools apart from Marrell Academy are Makini Academy, Ngong Road in Nairobi which registered only 21 candidates and attained a mean score of 419.
The school however has satellite centres in Nairobi and this insinuates that it might have had more than 100 candidates.
Others are Newlight Academy in Nairobi’s Komarock estate (had 21 candidates) with a mean score of 410, Gilgil Hills Academy (23 candidates) with a high mean score of 405, Lizar Junior School - Naivasha (70 candidates) with a mean of 404, Chelsa Academy – Bomet (28 candidates) with a mean of 402 and Fred’s Academy – Imenti North with (44 candidates) with a mean of 400.
The Kenya Private Schools Association has admitted that over 20 schools are involved in the unethical practice and has appealed to the government to deregister them.
According to Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, the Ministry of Education is aware of the practice and has promised stern action.
“This is a ridiculous examination malpractice since the proprietors of these schools are clearly using innocent pupils in an unscrupulous marketing exercise of their businesses,” said Matiang’i.
However, Private Schools Association chief executive Peter Ndoro faulted Matiang’i’s ministry of failing to act and said that the ministry has been informed of these malpractices since 2012.
“We hope the ministry will take action this time. Most of these satellite centres register less than 25 candidates,” said Mr Ndoro.