Anxiety and fear as Matiang’i set to release KCSE results this week

Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i

Anxiety has gripped parents and students after indications emerged that this year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination results could be released this week.

The Sunday Standard has established that by end of last week, only six centres were yet to complete marking, with most of the process complete.

Sources in Government said Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i was likely to release the results for the 615,773 candidates before Christmas Day.

“Be on the look-out because as things stand now, the remaining centres are about to complete marking and processing of marks will soon be done with,” said the source who is familiar with the process.

The official who spoke in confidence said compilation of most of the results was complete.

There are only seven days left to Christmas, with December 24 being a Sunday. This means the results are likely to be out between tomorrow and Saturday. A number of teachers who participated in the marking told the Sunday Standard that by last week most of the marking centres had been closed.

Parents and candidates yesterday expressed mixed reactions over the number of quality grades that the students would record this year.

Some said they expected last year’s trends to hold with a few quality grades, while others said they expected improved grades because of negligible examination irregularities registered in the examination.

“We are just waiting and hoping that results will improve this year because cases of cheating were isolated,” said a parent.

Parents and candidates’ fears could hold some weight going by an analysis of KCSE examination results for the last three years. The results released last year shocked many Kenyans as only 141 candidates scored the coveted grade ‘A’ compared to 2,685 who attained the grade in 2015.

Only 4,645 candidates scored grade A–, 10,975 attained B+ while 17,216 scored B plain. A total of 55,952 candidates scored B– and C+ in last year’s results.

Overall, only 88,929 candidates attained the university entry grade of C+ and above compared to 169,492 the previous year.

And of the top 20 best performing candidates nationally in last year’s examinations, 16 were girls.

Decline in performance

A look at last year’s KCSE results shows that 20 subjects recorded a decline in performance compared to 10 in 2015.

Art & Design, Computer Studies, Drawing & Design, Woodwork and Kenyan Sign Language were the most improved subjects.

A Ministry of Education report on KCSE examination performance between 2014-2016 reveals that the number of candidates who score grade A has continued to drop, with the lowest score recorded last year. The report is dated July 18, 2017.

The year 2014 recorded the highest number of students who scored grade A, with some 3,042 candidates posting the grade.

This came down to 2,685 in 2015 and only 141 last year.

The data also shows an increasing trend of poor grades, with some 557,911 candidates scoring grade D to E over the past three years.

Last year recorded the highest number of low grades with 295,463 candidates scoring grade D and below. This represented more than half the candidates (51.7 per cent) who sat the 2016 KCSE examination.

In 2015, some 133,885 candidates scored grade D and below, representing 25.6 per cent of the total candidature.

And 128,885 scored graded D and below in 2014, representing 26.9 per cent of the total candidates that year.

University entry grade

The scenario is the same for the total number of students who posted the minimum university entry grade for the last three years.

Last year again recorded the lowest number of those who scored C+ and above, with only 88,929, representing 15.6 per cent. In 2015, some 169,492­ managed the university entry grade, nearly double the number registered last year.

The year 2014 recorded the highest number of those who attained university entry grade at 159,370, representing 33.3 per cent.

Based on this trend, parents and candidates have a reason to worry as time ticks towards release of this year’s results.

The trend is also not steady for candidates who post middle level grades of C and D+.

Over the last three years, a total of 595,670 candidates scored grades C to D+.

Last year, 186,769 candidates managed grade C and D+ while 218,185 were recorded in 2015 and another 190,717 in 2014.