Every time the Kenya Universities and Colleges Placement Service (KUCCPS) releases course choice results, applicants, parents and guardians are, as expected, usually anxious and jittery. The courses and the colleges, according to many people, are the bridges into a good life or misery.
Well, because the bulk of the applicants are young in age, they may be excused for thinking that a course or a university is a matter of life and death. However, the KUCCPS has provided a possible cure through inter-institutional or course transfers. The only hitch is the extra payment for the courses switch, which hurdle may block many a family from reaching their dream course for son or daughter.
Because of the frenzy, many applicants are wont to respond to the placement announcements on social media without restraint. Here, the unhappy Form Four leavers reveal their index numbers, initial application lists, and want to conclude the selection publicly.
As the world switches to a tighter data protection regime, the placement agency should be careful not be pushed into discussing personal application details publicly.
We ask the KUCCPS to advise their clients to send direct messages, well known as DMs, make phone calls or send emails. The agency, should also, through the school mentorship programmes, ask the Form Fours to start appreciating standard communication channels that do not offend sensibilities.
In the just released Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) September intake results, the placement organisation can be seen on social media, responding to individual cases. For example, it is telling an applicant that “Your application to KMTC (2025) was not successful”. Even if the questioner is using a pseudonym, the response is close to breaching personal space.
In another case, it responds that “This student did not submit any application and has no application history.” We believe this information belongs to the individual, not anyone else.
Having said that, we challenge the prospective learners to appreciate the boundaries or disclosure and decency. On this, they should mind their own business and learn to protect personal data at all costs by ensuring that their communication does not expose to ridicule or unsolicited sympathies.