Kenyans Unable To Access KCSE Results After KNEC Website Crashes

Moments, after Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu released the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results, parents, students and other stakeholders, were left anxious after being unable to access the results through the Kenya National Examinations (KNEC) portal. 

Machogu released the results at Moi Girls High School, Eldoret on Monday, January 8 after briefing President William Ruto, indicating that they would only be accessible via the KNEC portal after he abandoned the use of SMS to access the results, as has been the norm for many years.

Parents were advised to access the individual 2023 KCSE candidates' examination results online through a link on the KNEC website or directly through the URL: results.knec.ac.ke

Screengrab of KNEC website for checking 2023 KCSE results. /KNEC PORTAL

However, hours after the announcement, no school was able to immediately access the results of the candidates as the website crashed.

Machogu had earlier assured candidates that the ministry had ensured the system was working. 

"This time we have worked with engineers and experts and we are sure that the website is working, and Kenyans will not have the inconveniences we had last time," he said.

Viral Tea made multiple attempts to access the KNEC portal moments after the results were released and was met with the same fate, though we did manage to access the portal after some time.

Parents and headteachers who spoke to the press lamented that they were kept out of date owing to the delays in accessing the results through the portal.

"But why can't they anticipate such in advance and take measures to avoid such scenarios? We have very good IT gurus in Kenya, I'm sure they can handle it," stated a concerned Kenyan who spoke to Viral Tea.

“We are very anxious, some of the students are on the verge of collapsing,” a headteacher lamented, adding that the Ministry of Education ought to consider reintroducing the SMS code, and though the method was faster and more reliable, it was charged at Ksh25 per text compared to the portal which needs merely an internet connection.

Viral Tea earlier reported that the surge in traffic owing to a high number of Kenyans accessing the results may lead to site crashes.

Parents can also check for their children's results through the county education offices and their respective schools as KNEC will also dispatch results to sub-county education officers for distribution to exam centres. 

Speaking on December 7, 2023, while appearing before the National Assembly Education Committee, Machogu revealed that the move was a response to errors which were widely called out by among others, Azimio la Umoja leader, Raila Odinga, culminating from system hitches in the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) results.

While admitting that the release of the exams was impacted by minor errors, the CS cited a company that was contracted to manage the QR code used for relaying results as the cause of the system hitch.

"Moving forward, when we release the KCSE examinations, we will not be able to make use of the same service provider,” he stated.

The Education CS further noted that he was engaging ICT experts to develop a portal which would be accessed by members of the public free of charge as compared to getting the results via SMS.

He however underlined that the school portals are the most reliable source as the Ministry of Education transmits results to the portal directly for school heads and parents to access.

This year (2023), 899,453 candidates sat the Form Four national exams and are waiting to access the results through the KNEC portal.