After a painful three weeks of trying to apply for university and college courses through a State hub, the government has now formed a team to help in unlocking the puzzle.
Because of the woes, the application has been extended for a second time to March 4. The first review pushed the exercise to February 26 from February 22 while the portal was opened on February 7.
“…a technical team – comprising representatives from relevant agencies – has been put together to fast-track the application transactions,” said Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu.
Unfortunately, the bumpiness is not just about transactions but the whole process, right from feeding the course codes to paying. It is possible that some candidates will lose money.
It is the first time in the history of the Kenya Universities and Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) that the hundreds of thousands of expectant young people have been treated to inexplicable delays in the application.
A simple process that should take minutes, going by past experience, is now taking weeks while the placement agency’s CEO Agnes Wahome links the snail place to the eCitizen payment woes.
We can report that the CEO’s take is addressing only a part of the problem. While payment comes at the tail end of the application, the candidates and their families are having sleepless nights in the courses validation.
Also Read: KUCCPS opens university, TVET courses application
While matching course codes to a candidate’s KCSE qualifications should talk less than five minutes, the candidates are struggling with a standstill that is consuming a big budget in internet access.
Worse, the application portal does not save the complete stages, forcing endless restarts and repeats.
Those who are patient enough have forced themselves through the tiny pipe to pay the Sh1,500 service fees. But even the payment is nothing to celebrate since its verification and validation tied to eCitizen is a nightmare.
Among other things, the auditor-general has warmed that eCitizen is in the hands of individuals while queues have been building at various State agencies in what is linked to a a bumpy eCitizen.
Now, the Ministry of Education says it is “committed to ensure that all eligible applicants are given a chance and that no one student will be left behind in the process”.
While 199,695 candidates qualified for university placement by scoring C+ and above in the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination, by February 25 only 121,391 Form Four graduates had successfully applied for the courses, representing a rate of 60.8 percent.
The hitch is expected to hit those applying for diploma, craft certificate and artisan courses morr since they have been a poor show in the application.
Mr Machogu said in his February 26 press statement: “All students who scored mean grades of between C and E are particularly urged to take advantage of the ongoing applications to select their desired diploma, craft certificate or artisan programmes”.
In the first extension, Dr Wahome said “applicants with D+ and E are still very low and we are encouraging them to apply”.
When Mr Machogu released the KCSE results in January, he said the more than 48,000 candidates that scored a mean grade of E were a pain while the Basic Education PS Belio Kipsang said said these grades were a “huge waste”.
Without the government unravelling the applications headache, the 2023 candidates will go in history as one of the cohorts that faced the toughest struggles in pursuit of life goals.
