The Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) has issued a warning regarding a misleading post circulating about how to check the recently released Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results via SMS.
The fake post claimed that candidates could send their exam details to the number 20076, with the expectation that standard SMS charges would apply.
It further suggested that candidates should call KNEC’s toll-free helplines, which falsely added credibility to the claim.
The post also made an incorrect statement that all exam result slips could only be accessed at the examination centers where candidates had sat for their exams.
However, when Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba announced the release of the 2024 KCSE results on Thursday, he confirmed that results could not be checked through SMS.
Instead, candidates were instructed to visit the official KNEC website at results.knec.ac.ke, where they could enter their exam registration details to receive their results online.
This shift away from the SMS service had been implemented ahead of the 2023 KCSE results release in a bid to improve efficiency.
The Education Ministry had engaged engineers to ensure a more reliable system than the previous SMS service, which had experienced technical difficulties.
Despite these efforts, the KNEC portal faced significant challenges during the release of the 2024 results.
The website crashed shortly after the results were made available due to an overwhelming number of users trying to access it simultaneously.
KNEC explained that more than 300,000 people were attempting to access the site at any given moment, leading to the system being overloaded.
In a statement addressing the issue, KNEC urged Kenyans to remain patient, reassuring them that everyone would eventually be able to access their results.
The delays left many candidates and parents frustrated, particularly since they were used to the SMS system.
This vulnerability made them more likely to fall for the false information being spread by dishonest sources.
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