Extend student registration deadline, Kuppet official pleads
Laikipia Kuppet Executive Secretary Ndung’u Wangenye in a past photo. He wants the Government to extend the deadline for the registration of students. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Some students are yet to acquire birth certificates needed for the process.
- The Government already extended the initial deadline from February 20 to March 31.
- Registration closed on Sunday.
The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers has called on the Ministry of Education to extend deadline for mass registration of primary and secondary school students.
The Government had already extended the initial February 20 deadline to March 31 following reports that many students were yet to be registered.
Laikipia County Executive Secretary Ndung'u Wangenye on Sunday said most learners in rural areas are yet to acquire birth certificates, which is a requirement for their data to be captured in the National Education Information Management System (Nemis).
REGISTRATION
Mr Wangenye, who is also the coordinator of Mt Kenya Teachers' group, said the exercise was poorly managed leading to a crisis.
"The system is congested and the process is not as easy as the Government said. It is costly, time consuming and laborious.
“The Education Ministry is targeting 12 million learners, which is quarter of the total population," Mr Wangenye told the Nation.
He said the registration should have been done in a year, with Standard Eight and Form Four students being the first to be registered.
Mr Wangenye further asked the government to exempt learners from paying the Sh300 required for issuance of a birth certificate.
"The Ministry would have first ordered for compulsory registration of KCPE and KCSE exam candidates then the data for the rest would have been captured later.
“The government should have centralised collection of the data in schools by directing officers from office of Registrar of Persons to move around learning institutions," he said.
POOR
Mr Wangenye accused the government of punishing poor parents by forcing them to travel to the offices of Registrar of Persons and pay for the certificate.
He claimed that some cartels at the registration centres are demanding for bribes from parents to expedite the process of producing the documents.
"They are demanding a bribe of at least Sh1,000. Some parents are also getting conned and issued with fake certificates," complained the unionist.
The Nemis online portal was developed by the Education ministry for collection of data on schools and learners.
The aim is to ease management of schools in distribution of text books, allocation of free education funds and deployment of teachers.
