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Student takes University to court over wrong results


A former University of Nairobi student who allegedly graduated with inaccurate results has sued the varsity for refusing to correct that mistake.

Mursal Hajj Ali faults the University for making him graduate with a second class lower in Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, political science and psychology.

Mr Ali was admitted in 2008 to pursue a course which would have him graduate with a B.A in Political Science or Psychology. He aspired to graduate with a second class upper because this would have enabled him pursue scholarships or jobs with this qualification.

WRONG COMBINATION

But the University gave him a wrong combination of results in his transcripts which implied that he did not study other important subjects in order to be awarded his degree of choice.

He first sought for his results two months before graduating in 2012 but he did not get them and that to date some have never been released.

He had requested the faculty to rank him in either Political science or psychology. But as a result of the wrong grading, he was dismissed from a job with a shipping agency which would have seen him earn more than Sh 10,000,000 inclusive of other benefits. He has lost three jobs.

He says that if it were elsewhere, he would have been issued with an apology and correction of the error yet the faculty operates with arrogance.

He says others varsities such as Moi, Egerton and Strathmore issue their students with the ungraded marks and the general average for their subject combination hence they are able to know how their classification was arrived at.

NEGLIGENCE

He claims the varsity has made it tradition that if one graduates with a degree with faults as a result of negligence, they are forced to carry that cross for the rest of their lives yet that is something which can be corrected.

Mr Ali claimed he had written and complained to the varsity about his wrongly classified degree while trying to get his ungraded marks but he has been consistently told that that is confidential information which should be masked at all times.

He alleged that the Dean of the Faculty of Arts told him that their decision is final and that convocation of a degree can never be changed despite any grievous mistakes made.

He also alleged that the Dean told him that a student shall never know the ungraded score of all his/her course subjects.

ADMINISTRATION ARROGANT

“The university administration was arrogant and looked at courts as unable to act in fact one time the dean told me to go where I want to go because nothing will be done,” he said.

He wants the varsity ordered to release all his course subject results which he was not graded with as well produce his transcripts.

He also wants the varsity ordered to issue him a correction and his actual marks not just grades as is the norm as well as his averages for the classification of the degree of his choice.

But High Court judge Mumbi Ngugi directed him to give copies of the case documents to the varsity before she could issue any orders when the matter will be mentioned on September 28.