The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has given primary schools an additional two weeks to upload Grade 4 and Grade 5 School-Based Assessment (SBA) scores after several institutions failed to meet the initial deadline.
In a notice issued to school heads, KNEC announced that the assessment portal had been reopened until June 15 to allow schools that had either not submitted scores or only partially completed the process to finalise their uploads.
The extension follows concerns raised by schools that struggled to submit learners’ results before the May 29 deadline.
“Following closure of the portal for the upload of Grade 4 and 5 SBA scores, it has been noted that some institutions either partially uploaded or did not upload their scores. In response to numerous requests received, KNEC has reopened the portal for a further two weeks effective today,” the council said.
KNEC asked schools to use the extra time to wrap up all the pending stuff and make sure learners’ records are complete. However, they made it clear that schools not following the new deadline would face consequences. Failure to comply could cost schools Ksh1,000 for each learner whose assessments aren’t uploaded.
Besides potential fines, repeated non-compliance might result in KNEC audits of a school’s whole assessment handling process. This extension came about because of issues educators and admin folk have with the new Competency-Based Assessment (CBA) portal. Many report that it’s tough to navigate and think it needs way more training than it got. Plus, there’s the issue of new features like OTP verification, decentralized teacher access, and the need to reregister students before scoring them.
As things stand, schools are uploading grades for subjects like Science and Tech, Agriculture, and Creative Arts and Sports. To keep things running smoothly, KNEC also advised against waiting till the last minute, since too much traffic near the deadline might just cause problems and slow everything down.
This happens right after KNEC gave senior schools another extension for not finishing registration as Competency-Based Assessment centers for Grade 10 students. It shows the council is still giving institutions more time to adapt to the new rules.
