KCSE Certificates to be collected from government offices, not schools

From right Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba, Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang, Beatrice Inyangala when releasing the KCSE 2024 results at Mtihani House Nairobi on January 9, 2025. [Kanyiri Wahito Standard]

It is a major win for students who sit KCSE examinations as the government now wants them to pick their examination certificates from the offices of sub-county directors of education.

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba told MPs that he wants the issuance of KCSE certificates removed from schools after it emerged that principals defied directives not to withhold the papers.

This means that candidates sitting the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams will be required to collect their certificates from sub-county education offices rather than their former schools.

This development comes amid growing pressure from Members of Parliament (MPs) for the government to compel school heads to release certificates being withheld over unpaid school fees.

MPs argue that thousands of former students are unable to secure jobs or further their education because their certificates remain in school custody.

Many have been forced into unskilled labor due to lack of official academic credentials, MPs sitting at the National Assembly committee on Education said.

Despite a directive last week from Ogamba instructing schools to release all withheld certificates unconditionally, MPs questioned its effectiveness, noting that similar directives by previous education ministers had been largely ignored.

“What will make this directive different from past ones that were never enforced?” Tinderet MP Julius Melly, who also chairs the Education Committee, asked.

School heads have argued that institutions are owed over Sh20 billion in unpaid fees, making it difficult to release the certificates without financial implications.

In 2019, then Education CS George Magoha suggested that only students genuinely unable to pay should have their certificates released unconditionally, while those capable of clearing their arrears should be required to do so.

He even proposed listing defaulters with Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs) as a means of enforcing payment.

However, MPs then faulted Magoha's plan as punitive.

Ogamba however did not clarify whether this new certificate issuance policy will apply to students under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), who will receive certificates at the end of Junior School (Grade 9) and Senior School (Grade 12).

With only three more KCSE cohorts before the phase-out of the 8-4-4 system, any policy change would primarily affect the last groups of 8-4-4 candidates.

If the plan is adopted, students will no longer receive their certificates at school but will instead have to collect them from sub-county education offices.

Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia previously has also issued a directive to all school heads to release the certificates.