Kenya’s higher learning courses placement agency KUCCPS is increasingly coming under pressure to launch the programmes review for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination results released in January.
The Kenya Universities and Colleges Placement Service (KUCCPS) has been forced to do endless fire-fighting whenever it posts on social media. In one of its tweets recently on the need for teachers to guide top-scorers to their dream courses, the agency was met with a barrage of questions and demands about opening the courses portal.
And the tone of the posts is turning political, especially at a time the opposition in Kenya is pushing the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to “open the server” for August 2022 presidential results audit.
A Twitter user weighed in in Kiswahili: “Pia nyinyi hamtaki kufungua server (Even you people, you don’t want to open the server),” Elias posted, giving the organisation a deadline of a few days.
Opposition politicians, under Azimio, headed by Raila Odinga, have asked the IEBC to open the election results server, claiming they won the polls in which IEBC declared William Ruto the winner of the presidential vote with 50.5 percent of the vote against Odinga’s 48.8 percent.
Form Four leavers, their kin, and associates have been wondering why KUCCPS was taking longer than usual to open the portal for the courses review that costs Sh1,500.
Apart from the application and revision fees, universities and colleges collect another Sh1,500 from every admitted student to submit to the placement agency, giving it revenues of close to Sh1 billion from TVET and university freshers.
In the KCSE results, the number of candidates who qualified for university entry went up by 19 percent to 173,345 against the previous year’s 145,776, setting the stage for a fierce competition for courses.
The improved score is one of the reasons many candidates and their families are anxious about opening of the portal with fears that the presidential task force on education reforms could propose raising of the minimum entry grade from C+ (plus), thus locking multitudes out of their university dream.
While the torrent of queries on opening the platform has been assailing the placement agency, it instead keeps assuring its publics that “the application dates will be publicised on KUCCPS website and social media platforms”.
One Kosgey asked on April 5, 2023 on Twitter: Na kwani @KUCCPS mlisahau tulifanya exam?” (KUCCPS, did you forget we sat for exams?) The agency headed by Dr Agnes Wahome replied: “Hatujasahau” (We have not forgotten).
Dr Wahome has asked teachers to hold the hands of those who score A- (minus) and A (plain), saying the top scorers “end up being confused when it comes to choosing [courses] than the students who get a C plus, a B minus who are very clear that I want to be a teacher, I want to be a nurse, I want to do pure chemistry”.
Identifying self only as Reigns, a Twitter user said the problem is the cluster points for specific courses; “you may get an A plain and still miss” the perceived marketable courses such as engineering, medicine, nursing, architecture and pharmacy.
For a number of years, it has become difficult for people scoring A (plain) in the national exam to land their preferred courses due to the big number that registers stellar performance. They either opt to start with diploma courses or go for parallel (module II) courses offered at commercial rates.
editor@aplain.co.ke
