Individual candidate results, the minister said, would be available on https://resullts.knec.ac.ke; the CS advised any candidates with trouble accessing them through the website to use the toll-free number 0800724900 or 0800721410.
However, immediately after the results were announced, thousands of Kenyans complained that the portal went down. Most of the schools and individual candidates were yet to receive their results as the portal failed to load the results.
Screengrab of KNEC portal loading slowly on January 9, 2025. /VIRAL TEA KE
Taking to social media platforms, most Kenyans expressed their frustrations over the delays in accessing the portal, with some urging the examination council to urgently rectify the menace.
Attempts by Viral Tea to access the portal through two browsers were fruitless. “This page isn’t working”; “This site can’t be reached,” read the error messages displayed when one tried to click through the link using Google Chrome.
On Microsoft Edge, the portal was loading very slowly, despite the “KNEC::KCSE Results Checker” displaying at the top. The KNEC helpline Ogamba gave was also busy and our calls could not go through.
Kereri Girls High School principal who spoke to Citizen TV revealed that accessing results online took about ten minutes to come out.
“From the time we requested for the results, there have been hitches but for the few students we have been able to see their results we have seen A- and some B but we hope the network will be restored,” noted the school principal.
Viral Tea earlier reported that the surge in traffic owing to a high number of Kenyans accessing the results may lead to site crashes. The move to access the results purely via the portal was a deviation from the previous method where Kenyans accessed results by sending a Short Message Service (SMS), however, a similar challenge was witnessed during the release of the 2023 exams.
The shift from SMS was informed by concerns by members of the public who complained about receiving fake results through the message services. Beforehand, one was charged Ksh25 per SMS.
This development was announced by immediate former Education CS Ezekiel Machogu when he released the 2023 results in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu. He however underlined that the school portals are the most reliable source as the Ministry of Education transmits results to the portal directly for school heads and parents to access.
Meanwhile, 962,512 sat for the national examinations that concluded on November 22, 2024.
According to Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) CEO David Njegere this represented a 7.19 per cent increase for the first time since 2020. This number is an increase from 899,453 students who sat for the same examination in 2023.
A photo of students undertaking KCSE exams. /KENYA NEWS AGENCY