School principals across Kenya face a strict Thursday, July 30 deadline to verify and confirm all School-Based Assessment (SBA) scores on the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) portal.
This critical exercise ensures that continuous assessment scores for candidates sitting the 2026 Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) and Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) are accurately reflected on the Competency-Based Assessment (CBA) portal ahead of third-term national examinations.
“All heads of institutions are expected to log into their school CBA portals to confirm the status of uploading SBA scores for their 2026 KPSEA and KJSEA candidates by July 30, 2026,” KNEC reiterated in its earlier directive.
In addition to score verification, July 30 marks the final deadline for registering Grade 10 learners on the CBA portal following the conclusion of senior school assessment centre registrations on May 22. Institutions that failed to secure recognition as valid assessment centres will be barred from enrolling Grade 10 students.
Under the Competency-Based Education (CBE) assessment model, continuous assessments form a substantial portion of a learner’s final score. For Grade 6 KPSEA candidates, continuous assessment accumulated across Grades 4, 5, and 6 accounts for 60 per cent of the final result, while the national summative examination contributes the remaining 40 per cent. For Grade 9 KJSEA candidates, SBA scores from Grades 7 and 8 contribute 20 per cent, transferred KPSEA performance contributes 20 per cent, and the Grade 9 national assessment accounts for the final 60 per cent.
The verification deadline coincides with the official end of Term Two on Friday, July 31, capping off a particularly turbulent period for the education sector. The term was marred by widespread student unrest and dormitory fires that caused the temporary closure of nearly 200 schools nationwide before safety interventions allowed learning to resume.
Compounding these challenges, schools are concluding the term under severe financial distress caused by a Sh22.5 billion capitation deficit, leaving administrators heavily indebted to service providers.
While the National Treasury released funds on time, disbursement delays were worsened by persistent technical glitches and enrolment data discrepancies within the Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS).
With institutions now winding up the second term, principals are expected to complete the verification exercise before the close of business today to ensure candidates’ assessment records are complete and accurate ahead of the national examinations next term.
