According to the data, only 832 more boys than girls sat the exam

Sonia Alando from Aga Khan Primary School in Kisumu celebrates with teachers and parents after receiving her KCPE results yesterday. Sonia scored 433 marks. [Denish Ochieng|Standard]

The increase in the number of girls sitting KCPE has been consistently higher than that of boys over the past four years.

And although boys are still the majority candidates, this year there was nearly an even split in the 993,718 candidates who sat the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination.

Of these, 498,775 (50.19%) were boys and 494,943 (49.81%) girls. In the 2016 KCPE, 942,021
candidates sat the examination.

Slight increase

This year, female candidates posted a 5.64 per cent increase, slightly higher than the number of male candidates, which rose by 5.34 per cent.

While releasing the results yesterday, Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i hailed the steady narrowing of the gender gap.

According to the data, only 832 more boys than girls sat the exam. Four years ago, the gap was at 12,979.

The number of candidates who sat the exam also increased by 51,697 from 942,021 in 2016.

This year’s exam saw 27 counties record more female than male candidates, compared to 23 counties in 2016.

They are Kakamega, Meru, Bungoma, Nairobi, Embu, Machakos, Vihiga, Kisii, Kitui, Makueni, Siaya, Busia, Nyamira, Tharaka Nithi, Trans Nzoia, Kisumu, Nakuru, Murang’a, Mombasa, Elgeyo Marakwet, Kiambu, Nandi, Uasin Gishu, Kirinyaga, Bomet, Laikipia and Nyeri.

The exam was administered by 26,457 supervisors, 61,817 invigilators, 52,590 security officers, 26,295 centre managers, 838 examination management directors, 1,680 police officers manning containers and 6,574 drivers.

Matiang’i said this was “to ensure that the administration of the examination was undertaken in accordance with the laid down rules and regulations that govern the supervision and invigilation of the KCPE examination”.

Meanwhile, Kilifi County had the highest number of aged candidates sitting KCPE.

Among those aged between 17 and 18 years, Kilifi County topped at 11,315 candidates, according to a tabulation released by Matiang’i yesterday.

This was an increase by 578 pupils from last year’s 10,737 pupils.

Kilifi was closely followed by Kakamega County which had 11,085 pupils while Kitui County came third with 7,781 pupils.

Kilifi County was not left behind with pupils

In the category of candidates aged above 19 years countrywide, Kilifi County was second with 2,618 while Turkana County topped with 3,199. Kakamega County was third with 2,221 candidates.

Out of the six counties in Coast region, Mombasa topped with pupils below 12 years in the 2017 KCPE.

Second slot

Mombasa had 170 pupils below 12 years with Kilifi coming second with 116 pupils.  Tana River (91), Taita Taveta (73), Kwale (55) and Lamu (10) followed in that order.

In Coast region, Kilifi County once again topped with the highest number of pupils who did their 2017 exams. Total candidates from Kilifi who sat 2017 examinations were 31,835 compared to last year’s 30,558. Mombasa produced 17,586 while Kwale had 16,580 pupils. Others were Taita Taveta (8,258), Tana River (4,330) while Lamu County had a paltry 2,828  an increase from last year’s 2,640 pupils.