Four years of secondary education in Kenya is marked by the grand assessment commonly referred to as the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE). This exam usually takes place in late October or early November, just before the student’s break for the Christmas holidays. The results are often released in the month of December. This month is usually very tense for many post-primary students; being a holiday period, students often find it difficult to get to their schools just for the sole aim of checking their results, others even feel the jitters and would rather not choose to check at the time, in order not to ruin their Christmas fun. However, thanks to technology, checking the KCSE has now become easy.
Things You Need To Know About KCSE
The Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education was first introduced in 1989 as a replacement for Kenya Advanced Certificate of Education (KACE). The exam serves as the entrance requirement for Kenyan universities and initially had a minimum number of ten subjects but has been reviewed twice and now has a minimum of seven subjects.
KCSE often starts in late October or early November and ends in late November every year. Afterward, the results are released in late December, the same year, followed by a public announcement of the KCSE results by the Minister of Education. Students with good grades will then be qualified to gain admission into any of the public or private universities in the country, with the KCSE pass mark stipulated as grade C+ (55-59).
Possible Means Through Which You Can Access Your KCSE Results
Many students are often left with a choice of visiting their former schools in order to access their results. This often leads to long queues, and it doesn’t work well with the already accumulated tension. Most parents often do not fancy this time-consuming process just in a bid to obtain results and often send the kids to fetch results by themselves. However, it is often encouraged that parents get involved on a personal level and provide some form of emotional support in cases where their kid’s results fall below expectations.
With the advancement of technology, there are a couple of systems through which students can access their results. One of them is the SMS system which is perhaps the easiest method. To access this method, simply send your KCSE index number to the code 20076, charges apply in relation to your service provider’s tariff. The only downside to this method is that students do not have the option to print their results as in the internet/online method details below.
The Necessary Requirements For Checking Your Exam Results Online
To successfully check your KCSE results online you will need to have the following at your disposal.
Web Browser
To access the internet, the most preferred option is through a personal computer. A phone can also be used, however, it is important to note that depending on the specifications of the phone, accessing the portal where KCSE results are posted could be a bit harder. Students who do not own personal computers nor have direct access to one can opt for the option of visiting a cyber cafe.
Internet Connection
For those wanting to access the internet from the comfort of their homes, a means of internet connection would be needed. You can either choose to purchase a 3G/LTE WiFi or even share data from your phone to your PC. For those opting for the former, options in Kenya include Safaricom, Airtel or Orange.
KCSE Index number
You will obviously need to know your index number as you will be required to key it into a particular text box on the portal to facilitate the display of your results. Accuracy is important at this particular point because if you give a wrong index number you will have trouble accessing the desired results.
Step-By-Step Guidelines To Follow On KNEC Portal
The procedures for checking your KCSE results online is quite simple as you will only need to familiarise yourself with the online portal. You will always get a number of options in terms of websites to access your results but the major and the most trusted source is:- http://www.knec.ac.ke – this is a KNEC website and KNEC stands for Kenya National Examinations Council. It is the official organisation that is responsible for the exams, marking and releasing of the final results.
The guidelines for checking your KCSE examination results are as follows:
- On the website, you will see a section that has a heading – examination results.
- At the first drop-down selection, the menu lets you choose the type of exam that you wish to check results for. Take note as they also provide KCPE results too.
- At the second drop-down selection menu, you get to choose the year.
- The third part is a text box where you key in the values of your index number, try to be very meticulous at this point as the wrong number would display no results.
- Next, click on the submit button found towards the end of the page. This would send a command for the system to process your results. The speed at which results are displayed depends on the speed of your internet connection, as well as the speed of the system.
- Finally, click on the download button and then print out the examination result slip.
hapakenya.com is another trusted website through which the KCSE results can be accessed. Adopt the same procedures as listed above and your results would be displayed in the same fashion.
Will The Examination Results Still Be Released In December 2020?
Following the Coronavirus pandemic, the KCSE examination that was scheduled to start on November 4th, 2020, and end on November 30th, 2020 has been postponed to the first quarter of 2021. Given the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU), and Kenya Human Rights Commission reached a conclusion to keep all the schools across the country closed until the COVID-19 infections have significantly reduced.
According to the announcement made by the Education Cabinet Secretary, Prof George Magoha on June 18th, 2020, the 2020 KCSE examination could be merged with the 2021 exam if the government fails to administer national examinations by April 2021. As it stands now, it’s quite hard to predict when the 2020 KCSE results will be released next year.