NEMIS latest tool in fight to end cheating at School Games

The Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association has turned to National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) as its latest weapon in the fight to end cheating at School Championships.

In a stack of new rules designed to stem age cheating and impersonation, schools will be required to enter names of students they intend to field at championships in the NEMIS before they can be allowed to compete.

According to KSSSA Secretary General David Ngugi, schools will be required to enter the student’s Unique Personal Identifier (UPI) onto a special team list alongside other details.

This way, Ngugi says it will be easier to end cases of age cheating and impersonation as details of the presented players can be easily retrieved from NEMIS including the learner’s photograph.

“Age cheating and impersonation are our biggest challenges in school games and that is why KSSSA in conjunction with ministry of education have made it a mandatory for every player to give out his or her details to NEMIS so that we can curb the two vices,” he told Citizen Digital.

At the same time, KSSSA has reduced the number of foreign players to be included in a school’s team effective from this year.

According to the new rules, the school games governing body has restricted Kenyan international schools from fielding more than three foreign players during their competitions.

The move that is aimed at giving Kenyan youth an opportunity to showcase their talent has slashed the number of foreign students to three per discipline.

KSSSA has also limited the number of players that a school can transfer from another school. Consequently, no school will be allowed to transfer more than 2 players from another (same) school.

Meanwhile, in this year’s KSSSA calendar, Rugby 15s which traditionally have been played in term two will be done in term one alongside Rugby 7s.The number of participants in Rugby 15s has been reduced to twenty (20), while in Rugby 7s reduced to eleven (11).

Decathlon and heptathlon have been expunged from the calendar with Cross Country taking place in term one.

The term one action is featuring; Basketball, Hockey, Rugby 15’s, Rugby 7’s, Swimming, Handball, Cross Country and Athletics while term two games will feature; Netball, Football U16 & U19, Volleyball and Racquet games.

The School Games action has started in Zonal level across the country with National term one event which is poised to attract 1,912 participants set for April 5 to April 14 at Shimo La Tewa and Shanzu TTC, in Mombasa County.