Frustrations over poor Knec servers in KCPE, KCSE registration as deadline nears

Teachers Arena May 8, 2022 Exams news 15 Comments

*Students of Mama Ngina girls during KCSE examination*

Schools are struggling to register learners for the upcoming KCPE and KCSE examinations.

Teachers are complaining of poor Knec servers that make registration near impossible.

Knec had ordered schools to start registration of learners for KCPE, KCSE and KPSEA exams. The registration started on 27th April 2022.

However only few schools have been able to successfully register their learners. According to Knec the registration will close on 14th May 2022.

The examiner warned schools against failing to register learners. The biggest challenge for schools is the poor Knec servers which will not allow the process to go on smoothly.

This has led to frustrations and panic as the deadline nears. Grade 6 learners will sit for Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) in December this year.

Grade 6 learners are already in the portal because they were already registered in Grade 3 where they first had their national assessment.

Primary school headteachers were asked to verify the learners’ bio-data (registration details) as captured in the Grade 5 assessment and make amendments where necessary before close of the registration period.

The KPSEA national test will carry a maximum of 40 marks which will be added to 60 marks the learners scored in Grade 3, 4 and 5.

For primary schools the challenge is on registration of KCPE candidates. Knec is yet to respond to claims of its system failure.

The examiner is also yet to state whether the issued deadline will be extended to compensate for the lost time.

Knec ordered schools with less than five candidates not to be allowed to register the candidates for the 2022 examinations.

It asked such schools to liaise with their respective Sub County Director of Education (SCDE) who will identify an approved examination centre with more than five candidates for them to register their candidates.

Schools with less than 30 candidates will be hosted by other centres as it happened in the previous exams.

For KCPE and KCSE registration schools are required to key in the following details.

1 Correct order of candidate’s names as they appear in the Birth Certificate;

2 Gender;

3 Year of birth;

4 Citizenship;

5 Subjects registered for, including the optional ones where applicable;

6 Information on different categories of candidates with special needs (i.e., Blind, Low vision, Deaf and Physically challenged).

For registration of KCSE examination candidates, Principals are required to upload the candidates’ passport photographs with specifications of 300 x 300 pixels.

Schools and candidates were asked to adhere to the entry requirements as stipulated in the registration instructions for KCPE and KCSE examinations in the Regulations and User Guides for the Management of KCPE and KCSE Examinations issued by Knec in 2017.

Last year the council registered 1,225,507 KCPE candidates in 28,316 examination centres which were served from 491 distribution centres.

A total of 831,015 candidates registered for the KCSE examination which were administered in 10,413 centres.

The examination papers and other materials were served from 483 distribution centres.