The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has announced that registration for the 2026 national examinations will run from February through March, cautioning parents to ensure their children are enrolled early.
Speaking during the release of the 2025 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results, KNEC CEO David Njengere said late registration continues to be the council’s most persistent challenge. He called on parents of students entering Grade Six, Grade Nine, and Form Four to actively confirm their children’s registration status.
Njengere reported that 993,226 candidates sat the 2025 KCSE examinations in 10,765 schools, with 492,012 boys and 501,214 girls participating. Candidates were tested in 30 subjects using 74 examination papers over a 24-day period from October 21 to November 21, 2025.
“The biggest challenge is always ensuring candidates are registered on time,” Njengere said. “Parents must not assume schools have completed this process. We often get calls a month before exams from parents discovering their child was not registered, and this creates unnecessary pressure.”
To make registration verification easier, KNEC plans to launch an SMS platform in April. The service will allow parents to confirm independently whether their children have been registered, and Njengere encouraged parents to use the April school holidays to follow up.
The KCSE exercise was conducted on a large scale, with 633 distribution centres used daily to deliver examination materials. More than 100,000 professionals, including Ministry of Education and TSC officers, security personnel, centre managers, invigilators, supervisors, and drivers, were involved in field administration.
A total of 30,980 examiners marked the KCSE papers across 40 centres between November 17 and December 18. “We appreciate all examiners for their dedication and excellent work,” Njengere said.
He also announced a free online portal for teachers handling senior school under the competency-based curriculum, describing it as a helpful resource for navigating the teaching and assessment process.
Njengere urged parents to remain proactive, stressing that timely registration is key to ensuring a smooth examination process.
