Why schools could miss deadline to register candidates

A new computerised examination registration programme is proving to be a nightmare for schools facing a March 31 deadline to enrol candidates.

Most rural schools and those without electricity or Internet access are unlikely to meet the deadline set by the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec).

According to the council, an estimated 400,000 potential candidates for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination must register through the online system that is to be fully implemented for the first time this year.

But the more than 700,000 Standard Eight candidates will be allowed to register both electronically and manually for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination.

Investigations by the Sunday Nation, however, have shown that the software that runs the registration programme is prone to errors that cause school computers to crash on a regular basis.

The challenges

To overcome these obstacles, some headteachers have opted to take data to cyber cafes where they have been charged as much as Sh200 for assistance in registering a single applicant.

“We are unable to conduct the exercise because the cost is beyond our reach, and we have no specific budget for it,” said a school principal in Uasin Gishu who asked not to be named for fear of antagonising his seniors.

“The council should allow us to revert to the manual data and take time to train us on use of the new system and also give us time to buy computers in readiness for next year,” he said.

The new system could jeopardise the confidentiality of candidate records since cyber cafe operators could keep a record of the passwords of the centres they have assisted to register applicants.

Knec boss Paul Wasanga said in a media advertisement last Friday that the March 31 deadline stands.

Mr Wasanga also shortened the period of late registration by two weeks – from May 31 to May 15.

The KCSE candidates who register after March 31 will be required to pay a penalty of Sh1,000 for each subject.

A candidate who registers after the deadline would have to pay Sh7,000 in late fees since seven is the minimum number of subjects one can sit.

Kenya Secondary School Heads Association chairman Cleophas Tirop welcomed the online system but said training was needed to enable all schools to adopt it.

He said funds should be set aside to ensure all schools have the necessary equipment.

The registration hitches present yet another problem for Knec whose information technology system has already come under scrutiny because of the failure of a programme to respond to electronic queries for exam results sent online or via SMS.

Last month, the system failed to deliver KCSE results to most inquirers on time, and the same thing happened with the KCPE examination results last December.

Experts recommended adoption of an online system of registering candidates for examinations, claiming it would address the shortcomings in the existing manual format of registering candidates.

In a July 2010 report commissioned by Knec, ICT Audit Findings and ICT Strategy, a private data consultant, concluded that the council’s computer systems are basically inefficient.

“The applications systems used rely rather heavily on manual processes in their operations,” it said.

Some of the software packages, it said, are not being utilised to their full capacity or are not effective.

Knec has computerised manual and inefficient processes relying on old technology, thus introducing repetitions in data capture and processing and high overheads.

The report said the council used an offset printing technology that is slow and prone to manipulation, enhancing the possibility of examination leakages.

“Eliminate manual intervention in printing, packaging and distribution of examination materials through introduction of digital press,” the report said.

With web-based technology for the transfer of data and a digital printing process, the report said, the production process would be shorter, which would, in turn, reduce the time it takes to prepare exams and reduce the risk of leakage.

“Digital printing is a must if Knec is to succeed,” the report said.

The report recommended that a digital printing press should replace the existing offset printer in Knec’s South C office and that additional digital printers be installed in their regional offices.

It also recommended the purchase over the long term of medium-duty digital printers for all Knec’s 50 examination setting and marking centres at an estimated cost of Sh50 million per centre.

The report said “some of the software packages are not being utilised to their full capacity or are not effective,” and it recommended an electronic registration system, adding that eliminating manual registration would serve to ensure the accuracy of candidate information.

Under the new system, all candidate data is captured in a web-based platform and transmitted electronically to the Knec central database.

In addition to entering candidates’ biographic and educational details, the report recommended that each school be required to enter their digitised photos into the system instead of submitting printed photographs to Knec.

The criticism of the council’s information technology system comes after it spent about Sh100 million on hardware and software following the infamous mean grade error of 2007 when more than 4,000 candidates were awarded incorrect mean grades, forcing the council to withdraw them.

The findings of an investigation into the scandal were never made public, although they served as the basis for the purchase of computer tools to establish a new examination processing system.

But the Sunday Nation has established that questions have been raised about the evaluation of bids for the online registration tender worth millions of shillings.

Confidential documents show that top Knec officials cancelled at least one exercise of evaluating tender documents for the online registration.