Parents and school heads in Kisumu have expressed their delight in the decision by the Ministry of Education to allow pupils and students to register for KCPE and KCSE without necessarily having the birth certificate as has been before.
Speaking to Madam Rose Ogama, the principal of St Charles Lwanga Nyamkebe Secondary School in Nyando, she stated that indeed it has been a lifesaver as before schools could not receive government funds for students not registered by NEMIS because they lacked birth certificates.
"We have had cases where students report to school without birth certificates, for instance, in the recent form one admission, we had to admit a form one student, without a birth certificate. On inquiring from his parent, Mrs Pamela, she told us that it is a tiresome process acquiring a birth certificate. The queues at Huduma centre are heartbreaking." said madam Rose Ogama.
"I commend the minister for this noble idea. It is going to save parents the headache to acquire birth certificates during rush hours and will also enable all students to have their data on NEMIS. No student shall stay at home for lack of birth certificate" she added.
Previously birth certificates were a mandatory requirement for generating UPI numbers which are unique NEMIS student codes.
However, the Ministry of Education has adopted a new way of generating UPI numbers.
In a letter dated 5th February 2019 from the Principal Secretary (PS) Dr Belio Kipsang to the regional coordinators and county directors of education, the PS stated that the schools will be expected to use school UIC number as a prefix followed by the admission number instead of the birth certificate for those without certificate numbers.
He also stated that all continuing students who had been issued with temporary UPI numbers can be captured using the (add learner) module.
This initiative was arrived at by the ministry after several complaints from school heads regarding students without birth certificates.
Previously, a section of school heads had complained that despite the ministry allocating free secondary education funds through NEMIS, it did not provide accurate data as some students were not in the system due to lack of birth certificates.
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