The Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ) also referred to as Ombudsman which is mandated to ensure compliance with the integrity requirements in the law by public Officers, has given the Kenya Universities and Colleges Placement Service (KUCCPS) a week to respond to inquiries over technical issues in its portal.
The Commission Director of Access to Information Viola Ochola through a letter seen by Education News has given a 7-day ultimatum for KUCCPS to explain why students are having challenges in accessing the portal in their quest to know their placement in varsities and collages.
“The Commission’s attention has been drawn to reports indicating that your institution released the placement results for students who applied to join universities and colleges in Kenya for the year 2022 but access to such important information is restricted to short message service (SMS) whereof the cost per SMS is Sh25,” Ochola said.
She noted that the Commission undertook a preliminary investigation into the matter whereof an audit of the institutional website https://kuccps.net/ did not yield information.
“Students could not access the placement information on the website or know the alternative ways in which such information could be accessed without incurring unnecessary costs,” she added.
Further, Ochola said KUCCPS should have availed adequate guiding information on alternative ways of accessing the results.
“To comply with the obligation on proactive disclosure of information, your Institution is expected to have availed adequate guiding information on the alternative access procedures on your website or any other media (online or otherwise) in addition to the information on SMS access,
“This is to request you to respond to the foregoing concerns as well as inform the Commission on the measures initiated by your Institution to ensure full compliance with section 5 of ATI, 2016 within seven days from the date hereof.” She noted.
The university and collages hopefuls’ long wait came to an end on Monday, July 31, 2023, after the Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu announced the placement of last year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education students.
He said all courses available at the institutions are government-sponsored in line with the new university and TVETs funding model unveiled by President William Ruto on May 3.
The minimum entry point to university is a C+.
By Vostine Ratemo
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