Reprieve for 100,000 KCSE students as Diploma entry grade lowered

?The Government is planning to lower diploma cut-off point to C– (minus), giving lifeline to more than 100,000 students who missed university admission.

Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed is set to gazette the new regulations that will also lower diploma teachers training to C plain.

Currently, teachers wishing to pursue diploma courses must have attained C+ and above.

“I is no longer about whether you join as a technician, teacher or engineer,” said Kenya National Qualification Authority (KNQA) Chairman Wanjala Kerre.

Prof Kerre said that a meeting between the KNQA and Teachers Service Commission (TSC) agreed that Teachers Training Colleges admit trainees with C plain.

“We hope that the TSC will be flexible enough to allow the grade be admitted to the diploma training colleges moving forward,” Prof Kerre said.

It however emerged that the grade may further be lowered for candidates who sit examinations in hardship areas such as northern and coastal Kenya through affirmative action.

The decision to gazette the regulations will allow institutions to admit students who have scored up to C– to diploma programmes.

The details are contained in the regulations for the operationalisation of the Kenya National Qualifications Framework (KNQF).

Kerre disclosed that colleges have been admitting students with C– before the official gazetting.

“Some of the institutions had admitted these students and there were fears that they may be kicked out and so through our intervention we moved fast,” he said.

The regulations mean that all candidates who score C– and C will be eligible for diploma courses.

“Colleges will now decide on what grade they will place students whether it is based on C– or C plain,” Kerre said.

He said the decision was arrived at after extensive consultations with education stakeholders and a keen look at the market forces.

Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) data for 2017 KCSE results shows that 40,474 candidate’s scored grade C plain while 61,040 got C–.

Overall, 100,906 students scored C plain and C– making them eligible for placement to diploma courses.

Amb Amina said that some 28,866 students applied to join diploma programmes in TVET institutions.

Speaking during the release of the placement results at Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development in Nairobi, Kerre faulted the decision to freeze credit transfer for diploma students for mass wastage.

He said many students opt not to apply for TVET courses because transition to university is not smooth.

“The credit transfer had been stopped and so universities have been admitting diploma students to join from first year of degree programmes,” he said.

Of the 606,394 students who sat KCSE last year, only 62,851 attained the minimum university entry requirement of C+.

This translates into 47 per cent of the 132,686 capacities in the country’s public and private universities.

Only 26,866 students applied to join diploma institutions against an available capacity of 54,927 across the 71 institutions.

KUCCPS report shows that students who applied preferred to study in Bondo Training Institute followed by Coast Institute of Technology.

East African School of Aviation was ranked third as Eldoret Polytechnic and Kabete National Polytechnic closed the top five best list.

Kenya Institute of Highways and Building Technology, Kenya Institute of Mass Communication, Kenya School of Revenue Administration, Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute and Nairobi Technical Training Institute make the top ten best institutions chosen by students.

A total of 222,737 students scored grades ranging from D to D+ and were eligible for enrolment into Vocational Training Centres for certificate courses.

Of these, 5,324 students applied and were successfully placed.

“There will be continuous intake for diploma and certificate courses under Government sponsorship in our TVET institutions,” Amina said.

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