Teacher trainees in various Teacher Training Colleges are raising fresh concerns over repeated technical failures during digital examinations, with some candidates saying they were logged out of their papers and later found themselves unable to return to the examination system.

The complaints have now reached the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC), with trainees asking the council to intervene before more candidates are affected.

According to a complaint received by our desk, the Mathematics paper was among the examinations affected by the technical problems during recent School Based Examinations.

The trainees say some candidates were unexpectedly logged out while sitting their papers. When they tried to log back in, some were informed that they had exhausted their permitted login attempts.

This meant that candidates who had not completed their papers could not continue with the examination.

The trainees say the problem was not caused by their failure to prepare for the examinations. They were able to access the system and begin their papers, only for technical problems to interrupt the process.

The affected candidates are now worried that they could lose marks or suffer poor results because of failures within an examination system they do not control.

Complaint received by our desk ¶

As teacher trainees, we are deeply concerned by the repeated technical challenges experienced during School Based examinations. During the recent assessments, many trainees were unexpectedly logged out of the examination system, with the Mathematics paper being among the most affected.Some candidates were unable to log back in because the permitted login attempts had been exhausted, denying them the opportunity to complete their exams.Examinations should assess knowledge and competence, not the reliability of technology. No trainee should lose marks or miss an examination because of system failures beyond their control.We call upon KNEC and all institutions administering digital assessments to address these challenges by strengthening and testing examination servers before every assessment, providing stable internet connectivity and backup systems at examination centres, reviewing the login policy and allowing candidates affected by genuine technical failures to safely resume their examinations.We further call for immediate technical support during examinations, investigations into all reported incidents and fair remedies, including rescheduling or allowing affected candidates to complete interrupted examinations where appropriate.A fair examination system is every trainee's right. Let technology support learning, not become a barrier to success.

The complaint comes at a time when KNEC has moved teacher education examinations to an online system.

Reports published earlier this year said trainees in Teacher Training Colleges were sitting examinations entirely online, with completed scripts submitted electronically through the KNEC portal for marking.

KNEC has also continued to expand its use of online assessment systems across the education sector. The council's own website currently lists teacher education assessment activities among its programmes.

But the move to digital examinations has brought new concerns over what happens when the technology fails during a live paper.

A similar concern was reported in recent weeks after teacher trainees called on KNEC to fix technical glitches affecting digital examinations across training institutions. The trainees said repeated system failures had prevented some candidates from completing their examinations and called for stronger servers, better technical support and fair remedies for affected candidates.

The latest complaint now raises a more direct question about the treatment of candidates who are removed from the examination system.

If a candidate is logged out by a system failure, trainees want to know why that candidate should lose one of the permitted login attempts.

They are asking KNEC to put in place a clear way of identifying genuine technical failures from cases where a candidate deliberately exits an examination.

They want affected candidates to be allowed back into the paper after the problem has been confirmed by an examination centre administrator or technical team.

The KNEC examination portal itself directs candidates experiencing login problems to contact their centre administrator.

The trainees say this makes the role of college administrators equally important.

They want Teacher Training College principals, examination officers and ICT teams to keep proper records of every technical incident, including the time a candidate was logged out, the error displayed on the screen and the time the candidate attempted to return to the examination.

They say such records would help KNEC establish whether a candidate was genuinely affected by a system problem.

Questions for KNEC ¶

The complaints raise several questions that KNEC may need to address. What happens to a candidate who is removed from an examination because of a system failure?

Does a failed login attempt caused by a technical problem count against the candidate? Can a candidate whose examination is interrupted be given additional time? What backup system is available when the main examination platform fails?

Are examination centres required to have alternative internet connections and backup power? Who makes the final decision when a candidate reports that they were locked out of an examination? And most importantly, what remedy is available to a trainee whose examination record shows an incomplete paper because of a technical failure?

These questions matter more as KNEC continues to increase the use of digital assessments.

The council has already been preparing for wider use of electronic assessment, with reports indicating plans for paperless national examinations in the coming years. Concerns have been raised over internet connectivity, electricity, devices and other technical risks that could affect candidates.

For teacher trainees, the concern is immediate. They are already sitting the examinations under the new system and say they should not be used to absorb the cost of technical failures.

The trainees are now calling on KNEC Chief Executive Officer Dr David Njengere, the council's Teacher Education assessment officials and the State Department for Education to look into the complaints.

They are further calling on the Ministry of Education, through the relevant State Department responsible for Basic Education and Teacher Education, to demand answers on how digital examination failures are being handled.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) should equally take an interest in the matter since the affected trainees are preparing to join the teaching profession and their training and certification directly affect the future supply of teachers.

The trainees are not calling for digital examinations to be abandoned. Their demand is for the system to protect candidates when it fails. They want KNEC to investigate the reported incidents, identify the affected candidates and give them a fair chance to complete any paper that was interrupted.

They are further asking colleges to report all technical failures rather than treating them as isolated incidents involving individual candidates.

For a trainee who has spent months preparing for an examination, being logged out in the middle of a paper can have serious consequences.

The affected trainees now want KNEC to respond to the complaints and explain what action will be taken before another examination is interrupted by the same problem.