1.6m students registered for 2017 national exams

A total of 1.6million students have registered for the national examinations set for November.

This year’s registration has seen the number of candidates sitting for the national exam shoot by 9,4933, up from the 1,523,274 million candidates who sat for the national exam last year.

The Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) acting Chief Executive Officer Mercy Karogo on Thursday said this year has seen 1,618202 registered.

Among these candidates, 1,002,922 million candidates have registered for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) while 615,284 candidates will sit for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary School Education (KCSE)

The registration started on January 17 and ended on Wednesday.

Last year a total of 942,021 candidates registered for KCPE and 577, 253 candidates registered for KCSE.

All head teachers were expected to ensure that all candidates’ registration details are captured correctly and every candidate had confirmed the same and signed the nominal roll.

Teachers were also allowed to sign for candidates to ensure transparency.

The candidates were registering using the index numbers pending the implementation of the Personal unique numbers.

Last week, Education Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i said the Ministry of Education is set to use the Unique Personal Identifier (UPI) to learner to replace the admission and index numbers schools give students upon joining the school and for purposes of registering for KCPE and KCSE examinations.

“For KCPE and KCSE candidates this year, index numbers will be replaced by the UPIs,” the CS said.

Dr Matiang’i said the ministry will be using the unique numbers for allocating capitation funds to schools.

The CS also said the implementation of the system will lead to better, personalized educational service delivery, and constrain the unfortunate resource leakage that has plagued the education sector

The system is also expected to be the linchpin of the comprehensive Education Data Management Information System that the ministry is developing.

Unlike the previous year, the government has for the first time paid for examinations fee for all candidates, both in public and private schools except for non-citizens.

In previous years, the government was only paying for candidates in public schools.

This year, the government will spend Sh3.2billion to cater for examinations fees for all candidates including the candidates from private schools.