Okiya Omtatah demands KCSE regrading over KSL dispute

Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has demanded an immediate regrading of the 2025 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results, citing alleged unfair and discriminatory treatment of Kenya Sign Language (KSL) candidates by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC).

In a formal letter addressed to KNEC Chief Executive Officer and received on January 13, 2026, the senator questioned how KSL was handled in the computation of final mean grades across different categories of candidates.

Omtatah noted that although KSL is classified as a technical subject under Category 5 of the 8-4-4 curriculum, the subject was inconsistently applied during grading. While KSL was treated as a compulsory language for hearing-impaired candidates alongside English and Kiswahili, it was excluded from the final aggregate score for hearing candidates who had registered for and sat the exam.

He argued that the exclusion was implemented without prior notice, public participation or official communication to schools, parents or candidates, despite students selecting the subject in Form Two and completing their studies with the expectation that it would count towards their final grade.

The senator said the move departed from long-standing KNEC practice and violated principles of fairness, legitimate expectation and inclusive education. He added that schools had invested resources in hiring trained KSL teachers and allocating instructional time, only for grading rules to change after examinations had been completed.

“Exams must be fair. Rules cannot change after the fact,” Omtatah stated.

He has demanded that KNEC, within seven days, provide data on the number of candidates affected and recall and recompute the results to include KSL appropriately as a technical subject. Omtatah also called for a clear policy directive for current Form Three and Four students and warned that failure to act would trigger legal action.