All Secondary School Principals have been directed to provide the Kenya University and College Central Placement Services with valid and up-to-date contact information for Form Four candidates.
According to a circular from the Ministry of Education dated August 24, 2022 and signed by Dr. Julius Jwan, Principal Secretary in the State Department of Early Learning and Basic Education, the support will allow KUCCPS to create a database with contact information for all candidates for easier communication.
“KUCCPS intends to develop a database with contact information details of all the candidates. This will facilitate communication to the candidates and their parent and guardians, regarding school and center application, revision and any other relevant information, regarding government sponsorship,” stated Dr. Jwan in the Circular.
In order to expand placement opportunities to all the candidates under the government policy on transition from basic to higher education, KUCCPS normally requests schools to submit the candidates’ applications for placement to colleges and universities before they sit for their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).
On this all schools are required to create an account where principals apply for students’ placement to universities or colleges. Only the principal can submit the school applications and not individual students.
Despite it being a mandatory requirement all candidates sitting KCSE exam to apply to KUCCPS for courses they wish to study in universities and middle-level colleges, a good number of principals do not send their students’ applications to the KUCCPS hence killing dreams of many of the students.
For instance, only 2, 506 schools (or 24 percent) of the 10,437 secondary schools that were registered examination centers in 2020 submitted their KCSE applicants’ course preferences, according to the placement report for the 2020 KCSE candidates released on August 17, 2021 at KICD.
The selection process for courses at colleges and universities typically starts at the high school level, when teachers, particularly those in charge of career departments, are typically expected to advise their students to make wise selections among degree, diploma, certificate, and artisan programmes based on their preferences and academic ability.