KCSE Registration Guidelines, Documents (Ultimate Guide)

KCSE Registration Guidelines, Documents

REGISTRATION FOR THE KCSE EXAMINATION AND KCSE QUALIFYING TEST

The registration of candidates wishing to sit for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination and KCSE Qualifying Test is usually scheduled to commence in January and end in March.

In this regard, the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) wishes to bring to your attention the following information:

1.0       Registration of regular Candidates

Heads of institutions with students attending school in a regular setting will be responsible for registration of their candidates, which is strictly online. Institutions shall therefore log into the KNEC  registration  portal  to capture  registration  details of their candidates  using  their examination centre log-in credentials.   It is the responsibility of the Heads of institutions presenting candidates for the KCSE examination to ensure that:

1.1       all candidates presented for the examination are the eligible, school-going students who have been learning in their schools. Registration of ghost candidates constitutes an  examination  malpractice,   which  attracts  sanctions,  including  de-registration of the school as a KNEC examination centre,

1.2       all candidates adhere to the laid down regulations on subject entry requirements for grading (subject clusters) as stipulated in the Regulations for the KCSE examination issued by KNEC.

1.3       all eligible candidates upload their correct passport size photographs (300 x 300 pixels).

There will be no replacement/changing ofp hotographs once the registration period is over,

1.4       the registration data for all the candidates presented is accurate and error-free. This includes:

1.4.1  correct spellings and order of candidates’ names as documented in their KCPE examination certificates;

1.4.2  gender;

1.4.3  year of birth;

1.4.4  citizenship;

1.4.5  entry Codes;

1.4.6  Birth Certificate numbers;

1.4.7  subjects registered for; and

1.4.8  category of special needs and disabilities (where applicable).  The categories catered for should be indicated as:

1.4.8.1  Visual Impairment — VI (totally blind candidates who require Braille);

1.4.8.2  Low Vision – LP (candidates who require Large Print papers);

1.4.8.3  Hearing Impairment — HI (Deaf) ; and

1.4.8.4      Physical Impairment – PI.

2.0       Registration of Private Candidates

Persons wishing to sit for the KCSE examination as private candidates (those who are not enrolled in a regular school setting) shall be registered at Sub-County Directors of Education (SCDEs) offices.

2.1      Such candidates should note and ensure the following:

2.1.1  SCDEs shall be responsible for registration of all private candidates. The candidates shall therefore present themselves to their respective Sub-county education offices for identification and registration by their respective SCDEs.

2.1.2  The candidates will address all their registration related issues through their SCDEs’ office and follow up on the same through the said office.

2.2       Education Officers in charge of registration of private candidates including those in prisons must ensure that all eligible candidates:

2.2.1  download, fill in and submit the Private Candidate’s Registration Form and all other required documents;

2.2.2  upload their correct passport size photographs (300 x 300 pixels). There will be no replacement/changing of photographs once the registration period is over.

2.2.3  adhere to all Registration requirements as stipulated under 2.1 and 2.2 of this circular.

2.3       Any candidate wishing to repeat for less than seven (07) subjects (partial repeaters)

will be allowed to do so, regardless of the year they sat their KCSE examination, as long as they are not introducing a subject they did not sit for in the first attempt.

NB:  This provision is only for candidates  with proof of having sat for KCSE examination previously.

3.0       Registration of candidates for the KCSE Qualifying Test

Persons wishing to sit for the KCSE Qualifying Test  (QT) shall be registered at the County Director of Education (CDE)’s offices.  Such candidates should note and ensure the following:

3.1       CDEs’ offices shall be responsible for the registration of the Qualifying Test. Therefore, all prospective  candidates should  present themselves at their respective County Directors of Education (CDEs) offices for registration.

3.2      The test will be administered online, in a venue to be identified by the respective CDEs.

3.3      Students should register for The Qualifying Test a year before they are due to register for their KCSE examination.

3.4       Heads of institutions with students requiring the Qualifying test and bearing foreign certifications or any other local Primary school equivalent certifications should seek for Equation services at KNEC. The service for obtaining the Equation Letter is available online, on the KNEC website.

3.5       The documents to be presented for KCSE Qualifying Test registration include:

3.5.1  A copy of the original CPE certificate and/or any other specified documentary evidence for Kenyans who did not sit for KCPE examination;

3.5.2  A copy of the Equation Letter from KNEC for all candidates holding non-Kenyan (foreign) primary education certifications;

3.5.3  A passport size photograph in a CD (300 x 300 pixels).

4.0       Examination Fees

All Education Officers and Heads of institutions are expected to adhere to the Regulations and User Guides for the Management of KCSE examinations regarding payment of examination fees, and in particular, note the following:

4.1       The  Government  of  Kenya  through  the  Ministry  of  Education (MoE)  shall  pay examination fees for all candidates in public and private schools except for the following categories of candidates:

4.1.1  candidates who are re-sitting/repeating the examinations;

4.1.2  Non-Citizens (Non Kenyans);

4.1.3  Private candidates registering in the Sub County Private Examination Centres.

4.2       The summary of examination fees is as follows:

Table    1:      KCSE Examination Fees for Regular and Private candidates

re isterin       for the entire examination for the first time.

Number of Subjects                       7             8             9

Total fees (Kes)                          5,000       5,400      5,800

Table 2: KCSE Examination Fees for re-sitting candidates (repeaters / partial repeaters)

Number of Subjects
Total fees (Kes)

1= 3,100

2              3              4

3,500      3,900      4,300

5              6              7              8              9

4,700       5,100       5,500       5,900       6,300

4.3       The KCSE Qualifying Test registration fee is Kes. 3,000.00 (three thousand) per

candidate.

4.4       All private candidates will be expected to deposit their examination fees directly into the KNEC fees collection accounts in any of the following banks:

4.4.1  National Bank;

4.4.2  Kenya Commercial Bank;

4.4.3  Co-operative Bank; or

4.4.4  Equity Bank.

4.5       The Bank deposit slips should be submitted to the SCDEs who shall forward to KNEC together with other registration documents.

5.0       Verication or examination centres

Heads of institutions wishing to present candidates for the 2024 KCSE examination are hereby informed that:

5.1       Schools with less than five (5) candidates will not be allowed to register candidates for the 2024 KCSE examination as independent examination centres. Such schools are advised to liaise with their respective Sub-County Directors of Education (SCDEs) to identify an approved KNEC examination centre with more than five (5) candidates for their learners to be registered there.

5.2       Examination centres with  less than thirty    (30) candidates shall  be hosted  in examination centres that will be identified by the SCDEs, in line with the guidelines provided by KNEC on the same.

5.3       KNEC will only allow one private examination centre (for Private candidates) per Sub-County. SCDEs are requested to identify one public school where private candidates registered under their sub-county will be hosted during the examination. This will be the centre where the candidates will undertake the examination projects and sit for their practical examination papers.

5.4       KNEC reserves the right to deregister and/or place an examination centre and its candidates in another centre if deemed necessary, as provided for in the KNEC Rules and Regulations (2015).

6.0       Registration of new examination centres

6.1      The office of the Sub-County Director of Education (SCDE) will facilitate registration of new institutions that have submitted their application to be registered as KNEC examination centres for the 2024 KCSE examination. KNEC will communicate on the acceptance / non-acceptance of such requests in writing, through the SCDEs’ offices once validation of the request is complete.

6.2       The institutions are subject to inspection by KNEC and must submit the following to KNEC at the time of application:

6.2.1  A certified copy of a valid Registration Certificate from the County Director of Education;

6.2.2  Inspection questionnaire from the SCDE’s office, duly filled;

6.2.3  An Application Form duly filled by the school;

6.2.4  A valid Registration Certificate (expired certificates will not be accepted);

6.2.5  A Bank deposit slip as evidence of payment of Examination Centre Registration fees of Kes. 5,000.00 for public schools and Kes. 15,000.00 for private schools.

6.3       KNEC will conclude the process of inspection of new examination centres . Centres that will not have been inspected by this date will be expected to liaise with their respective SCDEs for identification of approved examination centres to host their candidates.

6.4       New Examination centres will not be able to access the KNEC registration portal until their request has been approved by KNEC.

7.0       Coding of New Sub-Counties and Distribution Centres

7.1       Newly created sub-counties requesting for coding of their sub-counties and re-coding of the examination centres within their jurisdiction are expected to submit the following documents to KNEC:

7.1.1  A copy of the Kenya Gazette notice legalizing creation of the Sub-county;

7.1.2  List of schools within the new sub-county, indicating their previous codes and the proposed new codes;

7.1.3  Location of their examination Distribution Centre                                                                              (Container) and details of the Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) or Assistant Deputy County Commissioner (ADCC) office.

8.0       Other important information

8.1      All SCDEs and heads of institutions are responsible for the use and security of Passwords issued by KNEC for access to the KNEC portals.  It is important to note that:

8.1.1  passwords are confidential and are intended for use by the designated user. Heads of institutions are therefore responsible for the security, custody and access of the passwords for their institutions;

8.1.2  heads of institutions must safeguard their passwords so as to restrict access of the school’s registration and examination related data by unauthorized persons;

8.1.3  in case of loss or forgotten password, the heads of institution should send an email to KNEC ([email protected]) requesting for assistance by KNEC;

8.1.4  All new examination centres (once approved and uploaded on the website) shall access the registration platform by keying in their Centre Code as the Username and password. Thereafter, heads of institutions are advised to change the password from the Centre Number to a password of their choice to maintain confidentiality.

8.2  All examination centres must be aligned/mapped to their nearest/most accessible Distribution Centre for ease of collection of examination materials.

8.3 All Centre  Managers  must  confirm  their  Collection  Centres (Distribution Centres/containers) where they will be served from during field administration of the examination with their SCDEs.

8.4  Heads of institutions should present all registration documents for their centres in their respective SCDEs’ offices by 5th April, 2024 for verification by the SCDEs and KNEC.

Finally, please note that once the KNEC Registration portal is closed there will be NO provision for late registration of candidates once the portal is closed. All the relevant process owners and stakeholders including parents and candidates must therefore be informed on the need to adhere to the set deadlines.

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