Over 250,000 students to join higher learning institutions

Education CS Prof. George Magoha. [Caleb Kingwara, Standard]

At least 250,052 students who sat the 2021 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) have been accepted to join various institutes of higher learning.

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha Saturday said that 90 per cent of candidates who scored a mean grade of C+ and above and applied to join universities or TVETs were successfully placed.

“85 per cent of those who applied got into degree programmes while five per cent will take up courses in TVET institutions,” Magoha said during the release of the 2021 KCSE university placement report in Nairobi. 

144,466 students qualified for various degree programmes.

85.8 per cent of those were placed in universities, 67,237 being female and 56,726 are male.

Some other 5,278 candidates who also qualified for degree programmes have been placed to TVETs by choice, which the CS termed a joy following the recent degree saga.

“The nonsense of degrees in this country is what is taking us in the wrong direction,” he averred. 

However, 16,000 students who qualified for placement but did not apply were locked out.

More female candidates (68,705) have joined TVETs compared to male candidates (54,000), the report shows.

Candidates can check their respective placements on the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) portal.

826,807 candidates wrote the national test administered between February 28 and April 2022.