(ERGO) – After four years of hard work in secondary school, Ahmed Abdullahi Hassan, a teenage Somali refugee in northern Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camps, faces an uncertain future as the results of his exams were declared null and void over alleged cheating.
Ahmed sat for his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams from 1 November last year at Dadaab’s Al-Huda Academy.
On 21 December, the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) released the national results for all schools. However, the council indicated that the results of all but four students at Al-Huda had been cancelled.
Ahmed was planning to go and visit his parents, who live in Kismayu in southern Somalia, after receiving his results. He was deeply shocked.
“I am really disappointed by the suspension and subsequent cancellation of my results. I was expecting to score a good grade, but the outcome is totally different. Now I have no certificate,” Ahmed told Radio Ergo.
Khalid Mohamud Ali, the principal of Ahmed’s school, Al-Huda academy, said KNEC officials wrote to him on 8 January noting that the results of 136 students out of 140 had been nullified after finding what they termed as irregularities.
Khalid denied that any of the students had cheated.
“There were no irregularities during the exam. Even KNEC dispatched officials during exam time to supervise the examinations, and at that moment there was no case of any irregularities mentioned,” he told Radio Ergo.
When he questioned the withholding of his school’s results, Khalid was told the school was being investigated for involvement in examination malpractices. Then on 8 January, KNEC informed the school that the results of 136 students were cancelled and only four students had been awarded certificates.
“According to KNEC information, all 136 students wrote similar answers and made similar points in their exams showing that they had copied, but the four students (who passed) had answered the questions in a different manner and so had not cheated,” Khalid said.
Khalid said the school denied all allegations of cheating as “lies”, saying the children had worked very hard and the teachers had done their best to prepare them well for the exams.
Another 28 students at Al-Bushra school in Dadaab also had their results nullified over alleged irregularities.
A total of 1,436 Somali refugee students sat for the exams in the camps last year.
Meanwhile, after $1,920 spent on his education, Ahmed is worried about being able to pay for another year in school that would be needed in order to re-sit the exams.
“My parents in Somalia have been paying my fees but they cannot afford to pay another whole year as they are already facing a hard time,” he told Radio Ergo.
Farah Abdullahi and his elder brother Mohamud Abdullahi Nur also sat their exams at Al-HudaAcademy in Dadaab.
Farah said he had been burning the midnight oil studying and was quite confident he would pass.
“That news of the cancellation of my results was a real threat to my future and left me in agony,” Farah said. “But my ambition will not be disrupted by the cancellation. I will keep on moving forward!”
Habibo Abdi Issa, the mother of Farah and Mohamud, is extremely disappointed. She is a single mother with six children. Her sons’ fees were paid by her brother who lives in Nairobi. Her brother is not willing to pay for one more year at school for them to retake the exams.
“We are in a state of confusion! The children were expecting to build their future but now I do not know what is going to happen,” Habibo said.
Radio Ergo sought comment on the issue from Garissa County education executive, Habiba Nasib, but received no response.
