CS attributes improvement in results to stringent measures

Teachers and parents of Busy Bee School Mombasa celebrate with their pupil Said Abdulatif Swaleh who scored 433 marks in the released 2017 KCPE Results, at the school compound in Mombasa County on Tuesday 21st November 2017. (Photo:Kelvin Karani|Standard)

Schools posted an overall improvement in this year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination results.

Releasing the results yesterday, Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i attributed the impressive results to the “new stringent examinations regime”.

Dr Matiangi’i praised primary school teachers for adequately preparing their students to sit for the exams despite the electioneering period.

“I wish to commend teachers for this, especially given that they prepared the candidates in an election year that saw the country hold two presidential elections, with their attendant heated campaigns,” he said.

Performance improved

Performance improved in English, Kiswahili, Mathematics, Kenyan Sign Language and Religious Education.

The top scorer scored 455 marks out of a possible 500, up from 437 in 2016.

The number of candidates who scored 400 marks and above rose to 9,846 in 2017 compared to 5,143 last year.

In 2016, the goal was to firmly curb cheating as top education officials vowed to ensure that every child got “what is due to him or her”.

It was an examination of many firsts, as no results were cancelled.

Last year, Matiang’i accidentally announced that the highest score was 436, causing confusion countrywide before it was later clarified as 437.

Compared to 2015, the 2016 exam posted a huge drop in performance.

In 2015, the results of 7,089 KCPE exam candidates were cancelled. The CS noted that only 21 cases of exam malpractices were recorded in 2016.

This year, he said, no exam was leaked, adding that measures were put in place in 2016 to curb exam fraud, including security and surveillance, which were enhanced.

The measures also included shortening the length of time between when examination papers are picked from the container and when candidates sit for the first paper.

“I wish to report that, for the second successive year, no examinations were leaked. Indeed, we are not cancelling results for any one candidate. All candidates will thus receive their results. Any candidate who misses a grading must therefore immediately contact Knec immediately,” he said.

This year, girls closed in on boys as the number of female candidates stood at 49.81 per cent compared to boys at 50.19 per cent, a rise of 5.64 per cent from last year.

Some 2,038 candidates with special needs sat the exam. The highest candidate scored 426.

Last year, the top candidate among the 1,950 special needs candidates scored 421.

Some 176,251 professionals were contracted - supervisors, invigilators, security officers, centre managers, examination management directors, security officers manning containers and drivers – up from 168,800 last year, including 5,047 examiners.

Form One selection is expected to be complete by December 12, ahead of the roll-out of the free secondary school education programme in January.

Some 993,718 candidates sat for the exam, up from 942,021 last year.