88,929 who scored C Plus and above in KCSE to join public universities

Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i addresses journalists after releasing the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results at the Shimo la Tewa High School in Mombasa, December 28, 2016. [PHOTO: GIDEON MAUNDU/STANDARD].

All the 88,929 students who scored C plus and above in the 2016 form four national examinations will join public universities.

This is based on the 86,484 that were admitted to the universities in the 2015 admissions.

The admissions are usually done by The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) board.

Of the 2016 candidates 141 students scored an overall mean grade of A as compared to 2,685 of 2015, 3,073 in 2014 and 2,722 of 2013.

Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said there was a significant drop in the number of top grades achieved in the 2016 KCSE.

“The same drop was also recorded in the total number of candidates who scored the minimum university entry mean grade requirement of C+ and above. The number of candidates with minimum university entry qualification of mean Grade C+ and above was 88,929 (15.41%) in the 2016 KCSE examination compared to 169,492 (32.23%) in 2015,” he said.

Some 4,645 students scored A-(Minus), 10,975 B+(Plus), 17,216 B plain, 23,745 B – (Minus) and 32,207 had C+ (Plus).

Some 44,792 had C plain, 61,026 C-(Minus), 80,952 had D+ (Plus), 112,135 had D plain, 149,929 had D- (Minus) and 33,399 had Es.

Dr Matiang’i also said no results were cancelled in the 2016 examinations. The results of 5,100 candidates were cancelled last year because of irregularities.

During the 2016 KCSE examination, there were 574,125 candidates who sat the examination compared to 522,870 candidates in 2015. This represents an increase of 51,255 candidates.

Of the 574,125 candidates who sat the 2016 KCSE examination, 300,995 were male, while 273,130 were female, representing 52.43 percent and 47.57 percent of the total candidature respectively.

Nationally, the number of female candidates who have sat the KCSE examination has been lower than that of male candidates over the last seven years. However, the percentage increase of female candidates has been increasing steadily over that of male candidates in the last four years.

Of the 483, 630 candidates sat last year’s KCSE examinations, only 149, 717 scored the minimum university entry grade of C+. Some 123, 365 candidates attained the same grade in 2013.

Last year, the board set the cut-off point for placement to degree programs at B of 60 points for male candidates and B- (Minus) of 58 points for female candidates.

Matiangi said at Shimo La Tewa High School 11 counties had more female candidates than male in the 2016 KCSE.

“Although we do encourage all children to be enrolled in the school system, more effort is needed to break the cultural and regional barriers that have traditionally kept the girl child out of school.”

He added out of 257 candidates who sat the 2016 KCSE examination in hospitals, 113 candidates were maternity related cases. The number of candidates who took the 2016 KCSE examination in prisons slightly increased from 08 in the year 2015 to 10 in the year 2016.