Kenya's shift towards digital exams aims to make assessments more efficient and improve administration. However, a recent system failure has raised concerns about the reliability of the technology. The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has moved to online exams for several teacher training programs, including the Diploma in Primary Teacher Education and the Diploma in Secondary Teacher Education. The change is part of efforts to modernize national assessments and align teacher training with competency-based learning.
The system failure occurred at St. Mark's Teachers College in Kigari, where trainees were sitting their Christian Religious Education paper. Candidates lost access to the system, preventing some from finishing their exams, and protests followed. The paper was scheduled to take place from 1 PM to 4 PM on the TECBA e-assessment system, with instructions telling trainees to ensure their devices were charged and connected to the internet. However, the instructions did not clearly specify the consequences of a platform or infrastructure failure.
KNEC's 2024 e-assessment rules place much of the technical load on institutions, requiring licensed software on devices and a dedicated offline server. This means a fault can occur at several points in a chain that the candidate does not control. The council's instructions outline the actions candidates must take, but the consequences of a failure are not clearly explained. This has raised concerns about the fairness and reliability of the digital exam system.
A student who experiences an interrupted paper may face lost time, delayed graduation, and postponed start in a teaching job. They may also incur additional fees if they need to resit the exam. Registration for the January to February 2027 supplementary sitting costs KES 7,200 per trainee, with another KES 5,000 for a practicum referral. The rules for irregularities also raise the stakes, allowing an irregularity in one paper to cancel results for the whole subject.
Candidates have also raised concerns about a reported three-attempt logout limit on the Safe Exam Browser. If true, this would mean the software is shaping the result if an accidental logout uses up attempts. The incident has highlighted the need for a fair resolution, which would require an examination of system logs, saved responses, authentication records, and the college's technical reports.
The incident provides a reason to examine whether Kenya's education assessment infrastructure is delivering the efficiency promised by digitization. Digital transformation in education should consider not only speed and ease of processing but also reliability, equal opportunities, and safeguards when technology fails. The immediate question is how KNEC will address the affected candidates at Kigari.
According to KNEC chief executive David Njengere, the council is committed to modernizing national assessments and aligning teacher training with competency-based learning. However, the system failure has raised concerns about the council's ability to deliver on this promise. A fair resolution to the incident will be crucial in maintaining the credibility of the exams and ensuring that students are not unfairly disadvantaged.
Key points
- The digital exam system failure has raised concerns about the reliability and fairness of Kenya's education assessment infrastructure.
- The incident has highlighted the need for a fair resolution, which would require an examination of system logs and technical reports.
- The system failure may have significant consequences for students, including delayed graduation and additional fees.
