Record 1.5 million students to sit this year’s exams

It is now official that some 1.5 million learners will sit this year’s national examinations scheduled to kick off on November 1. Data released by the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) shows that an additional 78,886 candidates have been registered compared to last year.

Knec figures say by end of March when the registration deadline was officially closed, some 952,445 candidates had been registered to sit the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE). This is an additional registration of 24,656 candidates from last year’s roll.

Some 927,789 candidates sat the 2015 KCPE. Of these, 459,885 were girls, while 467,904 were boys, representing a gender parity of 49.6 per cent and 50.4 per cent respectively. And for the 2016 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) some 577, 079 candidates have been registered to write the tests.

This reflects an additional registration of some 54,209 candidates compared to last year. Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i recently said the examinations this year will be administered under “different circumstances”. Dr Matiang’i said “the monkey business” that has been the hallmark of examinations shall be no more.

He said the examinations will strictly be done within a month, starting November 1 to 30 and that all non-candidates shall be out of school during the examination period. A total of 522,870 candidates sat for the 2015 KCSE examination compared to 483,630 candidates in the year 2014, representing an increase of 39,240 candidates (8.11 per cent). Of the 522,870 candidates who sat for the 2015 KCSE, 279,289 were male, while 243,581 were female, representing a gender parity of 53.41 per cent (male) to 46.59 per cent (female).

Candidature in KCPE has also continued to grow steadily over the years. In the last 10 years candidature for KCPE has increased by 261,338 candidates, representing a 39.2 per cent rise. Knec data shows that the number of girls who sat KCPE increased from 437,228 in the year 2014 to 459,885 in 2015. This was an increase of 22,657 girls, while boys increased from 443,258 in 2014 to 467,904 in 2015.