BY IRENE ONYANGO.
Parents have moved to court to block form one selection scheduled to commence today.
Parents from Kitengela International School and SET Green Hill Academy Mixed Day and Boarding School have filed a constitutional petition seeking to stop placement of Form one School selection.
The Minors through their parents Pius Kiio and Evelyn Kemuma Omwoyo want the High court to stop the Cabinet Secretary of Education Ezekiel Muchoki’s declaration of the form one placement exercise meant to begin on 27th November.
“Unless this honourable court moves with urgency to protect the the parent’s Children and other children in their situation right to education, the said right as stipulated under the Constitution of Kenya 2010, the Children’s Act 2022, International instruments and other enabling laws stand to be a mockery and a merely academic if not a cosmetic right in the said law,” stated the parents.
The two parents, Kiio and Kemuma expressed their dissatisfaction in the KCPE results that were released on Thursday, 23rd November and have written to the Chief Executive Officer of the Cabinet Secretary of Education on behalf of other parents requesting for review of the under section 27 of the Kenya National Examination Council rules.
They further state that they pray that the honourable court to take judicial notice of the uproar by the teachers, students and members of the general public after the examination results were announced as there were alleged serious anomalies in the marking of the examination.
Kemuma, a parent from Greenhill Academy, argues that her child’s papers were marked and released in a rushed manner which caused her child’s mental stress and torture for which she seeks general damages and review of the results.
“The release of the said examination by the KNEC was rushed and i believe that is why my child was allocated a lower mark than what she deserved making my child go through mental stress and torture for which I pray for general damages of her behalf, ” Stated Kemuma.
The parents through their lawyer Danstan Omari says that the two Schools have for the past three years posted good results in national examination and it was their legitimate expectation that their children being candidates of the respective schools would perform well given the school’s previous records and do not understand why there us a marked variance between the marks scored in previous years and marks posted for the year 2023 in the same KCPE examinations.
They further note that the release of the said examination by the KNEC was rushed and they believe that is why their children were allocated a lower mark than what they deserved making their children go through mental stress and torture.
Omari also noted that the Form One placement exercise is to start on 27th November and that the two parents are apprehensive that the placement is rushed and makes meaningless the 90 day review period provided under the rules and therefore will be unreasonable action on the part of the schools and it’s pupils leading them to miss their Secondaries of choice.
So far, there are three petitions filed relating to the KCPE examination results issue.
