The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) is in the process of preparing for administration of the 2022 Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA), Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations in November/December 2022. In addition, KNEC will be offering the KCSE Qualifying Test.

In this regard, KNEC hereby wishes to bring to your attention the following information which is crucial to the registration of candidates for the examinations and assessment:

Registration of School Candidates

The following are general guidelines for registration of prospective candidates who are enrolled and learning in schools:

Registration of candidates for the 2022 examinations and assessment will start on 27th April, 2022 and close on 14th May, 2022; 1.1.2 Heads of institutions are expected to ensure that all candidates being registered in their examination centres are genuine/bona fide learners in their school. Registration of any other persons will be treated as an examination malpractice which attracts sanctions against an examination centre, including de–registration of the school as a KNEC examination centre;

Schools with less than five (5) candidates will not be allowed to register the candidates for the 2022 examinations. Such schools are advised to liaise with their respective Sub County Director of Education (SCDE) who will identify an approved examination centre with more than five (5) candidates for them to register their candidates; 1.1.4 Schools with less than 30 candidates will be hosted during the conduct of examinations as per the previously issued guidelines on hosting of examination centres.

Head–teachers are required to log into the KNEC registration portal for capturing of the registration details of the candidates using the examination centre log–in credentials; 1.1.6 Heads of institutions will be responsible for ensuring accuracy of the following registration related details:

Correct order of candidate‘s names as they appear in the Birth Certificate;
Gender;
Year of birth;
Citizenship;
Subjects registered for, including the optional ones where applicable;
Information on different categories of candidates with special needs (i.e., Blind, Low vision, Deaf and Physically challenged).
For KPSEA, all primary school head–teachers are reminded to verify the learners‘ bio–data (registration details) as captured in the Grade 5 assessment and make amendments where necessary close of the registration period.

For registration of KCSE examination candidates, Principals are required to upload the candidates‘ passport photographs with specifications of 300 x 300 pixels. All schools and candidates shall be expected to adhere to the entry requirements as stipulated in the registration instructions for KCPE and KCSE examinations in the Regulations and User Guides for the Management of KCPE and KCSE Examinations issued by KNEC in 2017. (The regulations and User Guide are available in the KNEC Website:www.knec.ac.ke.

Registration of KCPE and KCSE Private Candidates

The following are the guidelines for registration of prospective private candidates who are registered under SCDEs‘ offices:

All private candidates shall be identified and registered by their respective SCDEs;
The candidates shall be required to fill and submit the downloaded Private Candidate‘s Registration Form alongside other requisite documents;
For coordination purposes, only one private examination centre will be registered per Sub County;
SCDEs shall identify one public school where the private candidates will be hosted during the examination. This will be the centre where the candidates will undertake the KCSE projects and sit for their practical examination papers;
For all KCPE and KCSE private candidates including those in prison, the registration officers should ensure that candidates upload passport photographs with specifications of 300 x 300 pixels;
All private candidates shall be expected to adhere to entry requirements as stipulated in the registration instructions for KCPE and KCSE candidates in the Regulations and User Guides for the Management of KCPE and KCSE Examinations issued by KNEC in 2017.
Registration of KCSE Qualifying Test Candidates

KCSE Qualifying Test shall be offered to prospective candidates who do not meet the stipulated entry requirements for the examination.

All the KCSE examination Qualifying Test candidates will be registered at their respective SCDEs‘ offices;

The registered candidates will sit for the examination at a venue to be identified by the respective SCDES;

The documents required for registration of KCSE Qualifying Test candidates

include:

a copy of the original CPE examination certificate for Kenyans who did not sit for KCPE examination;
a copy of the Letter of Equation from KNEC for all candidates holding non–Kenyan (foreign) primary education certificates. Prospective candidates can access the services for the Letter of Equation from the KNEC website;
a passport size photograph with specifications of 300 x 300 pixels.
Heads of institutions having candidates who hold foreign certificates/qualifications shall be required to ensure that the certificates/qualifications are equated by KNEC and that thereafter, the candidates register for the Qualifying Test a year before they are due to register for the KCSE examination.

Handling of Passwords for Registration

The following are the guidelines on handling of Passwords issued for use by Heads of Institutions and SCDEs:

Passwords are confidential and strictly issued to each school/SCDEs, hence it is the responsibility of the Heads of institutions/SCDEs to ensure their security;

In the event that a school has lost/forgotten its password, the head teacher should send an email to KNEC (em@knec.ac.ke);

New centers, once approved and uploaded on the website, shall access the registration platform by keying in their centre code number 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; ..

Heads of institutions and SCDEs are advised to safeguard their passwords to restrict access of the school‘s registration data by unauthorised persons.

Registration of New Sub–counties and New Schools

New sub–counties requiring to be assigned KNEC codes and coding of schools should submit the following to KNEC:

A Kenya Gazette notice on the creation of the Sub–county;
List of schools showing their previous codes and the proposed new codes;
Location of the storage facility (Container) and details of the Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) or Assistant County Commissioner (ACC) Office.
New schools requesting to be registered as KNEC examination centers for the 2022 KPSEA, KCPE and KCSE examinations should submit to KNEC the following:

A certified copy of a valid registration certificate from the County Director of Education. It is important to note that expired registration certificates will not be accepted;
Inspection questionnaire which is dully filled and authenticated by the Sub County Director of Education;
Duly filled application form from the school.
All communication and related documents should reach KNEC by 13th May, 2022.

Payment of Examination Fees

The government of Kenya shall pay examination fees for all candidates in public and private schools sitting for the KPSEA;

KCPE and KCSE examinations except for the following categories of candidates: candidates who are re–sitting/repeating KCPE or KCSE examinations;
Non–Citizens (Non–Kenyans);
Private candidates registering in the Sub County Private Examination Centers;
Candidates in prisons.
The fees applicable per candidate for each examination is as stated in the table below.

All private candidates will be expected to pay their examination fees directly into the KNEC fees collection account. The fees should be deposited in the respective KNEC examination fees collection accounts in either National Bank, Kenya Commercial Bank, Co–operative Bank or Equity Bank.

The deposit slips should be submitted to the Sub County Director of Education who shall forward them to KNEC together with other registration documents.

Submission of registration materials to KNEC

The Head teachers will be expected to submit the registration documents to the Sub County Director of Education by 20th May, 2022. SCDEs will be informed on when the registration documents will be submitted to KNEC.

For more details on registration of KCPE and KCSE candidates, please refer to the KCPE and KCSE instructions manuals: Guide for Management and Administration of National Examinations (2017) which were circulated to all examination centers. For KPSEA refer to Guidelines for the Management and administration of the Competency Based Assessment.

Finally, please note that there will be no late registration of candidates for the 2022 examinations / assessment and Qualifying Test. All involved parties are therefore advised to observe the set timelines as KNEC will strictly adhere to the same.