For thousands of Kenyan parents, the wait for the pioneer Grade 9 assessment results has been a nail-biting exercise in patience. But as anxiety peaks, a new threat has emerged on WhatsApp groups and social media feeds: viral lists purporting to show "top schools" and "mean scores" for the Kenya Junior Secondary Education Assessment (KJSEA).

The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has issued a red alert, categorically dismissing these documents as fake. The council warns that the circulating analyses—specifically one attributed to a "St. Vincent Depaul Boys"—are not just inaccurate; they are fundamentally impossible under the new Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).

The Lie: ‘Mean Scores’ in a CBC World

The viral document, which has been shared widely across Nairobi and beyond, mimics the old 8-4-4 grading system. It lists an aggregate "school mean score" of 808.14 and assigns an average grade of "EE2." To the uninitiated eye, it looks official. To education experts, it is a glaring fabrication.

KNEC CEO Dr. David Njengere was blunt in his assessment. "We urge schools to stop misleading the public with fake and inaccurate KJSEA results analysis," the Council stated. "Unlike the former system, KJSEA does not provide an aggregate score. Why? Because CBC is about nurturing individual potential, not ranking learners."

Under the CBC framework, the obsession with "Number One" is obsolete. Learners are not graded on a cumulative total out of 500 or 1000. Instead, they are assessed on four performance levels for each subject independently:

• Exceeding Expectations (EE)
• Meeting Expectations (ME)
• Approaching Expectations (AE)
• Below Expectations (BE)

By forcing these distinct competencies into a single "mean score," the fake analyses attempt to drag the country back to the cut-throat competition of the KCPE era—a system the government has spent billions to replace.

The Reality: How to Check the Real Results

The confusion comes just days after Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba officially released the inaugural KJSEA results on Thursday, December 11. These results are critical, as they will determine placement into Senior Secondary Schools (Grade 10) in January 2026.

Parents who want the truth should ignore the viral PDFs and go straight to the source. Results can be accessed via the KNEC portal at kjsea.knec.ac.ke or by sending the learner’s assessment number to the SMS code 22263 (Cost: KES 30).

The stakes are high. This cohort is the first to navigate the new Senior School pathways—Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Social Sciences, or Arts and Sports. According to the Ministry of Education, placement results will be released before Christmas, adding to the pressure on families to understand exactly how their children performed.

A Shift in Mindset

The circulation of these fake rankings exposes a deeper struggle in the Kenyan education psyche: the difficulty of letting go of the "ranking" culture. For decades, a school's worth was measured by its mean score. Today, a child might be "Exceeding Expectations" in Arts but only "Approaching Expectations" in Mathematics. This nuance is lost in the fabricated aggregate scores.

"This approach ensures that a child's excellence in one subject is not overshadowed by weaker performance in another," KNEC explained. "There is, therefore, no school mean score as is depicted in the attached fake analysis."

As the placement process for Senior School begins, parents are advised to focus on the specific strengths of their children rather than looking for a non-existent rank. The future of the Kenyan student is no longer a single number—it is a profile of potential.