KCPE pupils to pick schools afresh

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"Some candidates may not have had a chance to select these schools in their respective category,” Knec secretary, Paul Wasanga. Photo/FILE 

By SAMUEL SIRINGI ssiringi@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Thursday, April 26  2012 at  22:30

Up to 800,000 Standard Eight examination candidates could be forced to revise their choices for secondary school admission next year.

This follows a government move to elevate 30 more county schools to the national category.

But the list of schools did not reach all schools on time, making the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE)candidates to make choices based on the 48 national schools as of last year.

The schools they may have selected as county schools have now been elevated to national schools and given different codes. The country now has 78 national schools.

The new move by the government forced the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) to issue fresh directives on Thursday asking the candidates affected to revise their secondary school choices.

Council secretary Paul Wasanga said the 817,000 KCPE candidates who had registered by March 31 should revise their selections if they wished.

He said the council received the list of the new schools just as the registration was in progress.

“Knec received a list of 30 new national schools from the Ministry of Education when the registration was in progress,” Mr Wasanga said. “As a result, some candidates may not have had a chance to select these schools in their respective category.”

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The council asked candidates who wished to pick the 30 new national schools as national institutions to do so.

“Candidates who had selected the new national schools in other categories must also make necessary corrections,” said Mr Wasanga.

No school will be allowed to include fresh candidates during the revision.

At the same time, 436,126 candidates had been registered for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination.

Mr Wasanga said the council had opened a window period for candidates to correct registration details for candidates who wished to. The window lasts until May 11.

“The window is not for registration of new candidates since registration is closed,” he said. He asked repeaters to ensure they used correct KCPE index numbers.

But it was not clear whether 2011 KCSE candidates whose results had been cancelled had been locked out if they did not meet the March 31 deadline.

Early this week, Knec communications officer Fridah Were said the council would allow the 3,000 candidates whose results were nullified to register despite the March 31 deadline.

The candidates were from 154 schools, with 1,694 of them from North Eastern Province.

Results for 40 of the 60 schools in the province were cancelled, sparking violent protests in Garissa.