State funding strain as over 200,000 rating varsity grades

Schooling Cupboard Secretary Ezekiel Machogu (second left), Kenya Nationwide Examinations Council Chairman Julius Nyabundi (left), Schooling Principal Secretary Dr Belio Kipsang (third proper), Lecturers Service Fee CEO Nancy Macharia and Uasin Gishu County Governor Jonathan Bii (proper) in the course of the launch of the 2023 Kenya Certificates of Secondary Schooling examination outcomes at Moi Ladies’ Excessive College in Eldoret city, Uasin Gishu County on January 8, 2024. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA | NMG

The variety of candidates who met the minimal college entry qualification within the 2023 Kenya Certificates of Secondary Schooling (KCSE) examination crossed the 200,000 mark for the primary time, signalling extra strain for increased schooling funding.

In accordance with the outcomes launched by Schooling Cupboard Secretary Ezekiel Machogu Monday, the variety of qualifying candidates rose 16 p.c to hit 201,133, including 27,788 candidates to the 173,345 who scored C+ — the minimal entry grade—and above final 12 months.

“The variety of candidates who attained the minimal college qualification this 12 months was 201,133, which was 22.27 p.c (of the complete candidate inhabitants) in comparison with 173,345 which was 19.62 p.c within the 12 months 2022,” mentioned Mr Machogu.

“That is on account of the applying of the brand new grading system that decreased the variety of obligatory topics required to compute the imply grade.”

The soar comes at a time the State has introduced the introduction of a brand new funding mannequin for universities and Technical and Vocational Schooling and Coaching (Tvet) establishments that shall be need-based, which means that financing shall be apportioned to people relying on their stage of vulnerability.

Whereas asserting the shift in Might final 12 months, President William Ruto mentioned funding will comprise a raft of scientifically decided mixtures of scholarships, loans and family contributions on a graduated scale the place the categorisation of learners shall be in 4 ranges of want— the weak, extraordinarily needy, needy, and fewer needy.

Within the just-released outcomes, the variety of candidates who scored the premium grade A rose to 1,216 up from 1,146 final 12 months, which was an addition of 70 learners.

Nationwide colleges contributed the most important chunk of the perfect scorers, producing 889 college students with grade A, distantly adopted by extra-county colleges at 172, personal colleges (143), sub-county colleges (7) and county colleges (7).

A complete of 899,453 learners sat for the take a look at final 12 months, marking a 2.1 p.c rise from the 881,416 within the 2022 take a look at.

An evaluation reveals that the variety of women who scored A, A- and B+ elevated 30.5 p.c to hit 10,881 up from 8,337 in 2022, whereas the expansion within the variety of male candidates in the identical class was at a sluggish 5.2 p.c to fifteen,667 up from 14,898.

Mr Machogu mentioned that out of the 30 topics supplied within the take a look at, solely 12 recorded an enchancment, amongst them Arithmetic, Kiswahili Language, Biology, Enterprise Research, German Language, Music and Chemistry.

Others have been Christian Spiritual Schooling (CRE), Constructing and Development, French Language and Electrical energy.

“Feminine candidates recorded higher imply rating efficiency than male candidates in 5 topics that embrace the English Language, Kiswahili, CRE, House Science and Artwork & Design,” mentioned the CS.

“Male candidates recorded higher imply rating efficiency than feminine candidates in 10 topics, this being Arithmetic, Biology, Chemistry, Basic Science, Historical past & Authorities, Geography, Agriculture, Pc Research and Enterprise Research.”

The variety of candidates who attained D+ and above was 526,222, representing 58.27 p.c of the complete candidate inhabitants, in comparison with 522,588 which was 59.14 p.c in 2022.

The variety of candidates who scored Grade E hit a file excessive of 48,174 which was 5.3 p.c of all learners who undertook the take a look at, a growth that the CS mentioned was painful, particularly with the revised grading system.

Solely 4 candidates had their take a look at outcomes cancelled out of 4,113 examination irregularities recorded, because the CS indicated the remainder of the circumstances have been nonetheless underneath probe and {that a} willpower could be issued in 20 days.

In a dramatic twist and a shift from the norm, the CS introduced that the candidates who missed out on the ultimate version of the Kenya Certificates of Main Schooling (KCPE) examination final 12 months could be allowed to hitch Type One earlier than sitting a qualifying take a look at as was earlier deliberate.

“After I launched the KCPE examination leads to November final 12 months, I promised that the Kenya Nationwide Examinations Council (Knec) would administer a supplementary examination for 9,000 candidates who failed to sit down the examination,” he mentioned.

Nonetheless, upon additional audit, the council has solely traced 2,000 eligible learners. “Since this quantity doesn’t warrant a nationwide examination, it has been determined that the two,000 candidates be allowed to hitch Type One beginning January 15 and be allowed to sit down qualifying examinations later.”

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