Students post better scores in Mathematics for the first time
Education
By
Okumu Modachi
| Jan 09, 2024
Mathematics has for the first time recorded improved performance, Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machiogu has said.
It, however, emerged that more Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination papers usually done in the afternoon dropped in performance.
Performance drop
From the just released KCSE results, 14 subjects recorded a drop in performance, including English, Kenyan Sign Language, Physics, Computer Studies and History and Government.
While presiding over the release of last year's KCSE results yesterday in Eldoret, Machogu attributed the drop to the newly introduced double collection policy.
"For the first time, we are seeing a decline in performance in History and Government normally done in the afternoon. You can see now that early exposure was missing," said Machogu.
"Equally, Geography used to be done in the afternoon. You can also see there was a decline in Agriculture," he added.
Other subjects ranked in the same category include Islamic Religious Education, Home Science, Wood Work, Metal Work, Power Mechanics, Drawing & Design and Art & Design.
Machogu, however, observed that 12 subjects recorded a significant improvement in performance out of the 30 subjects offered for examinations in 2023 KCSE. Among them were Mathematics, Kiswahili, Biology, Biology for the Blind, CRE, Business Studies, German, Music, Chemistry, Building Construction, French and Electricity.
The CS also said that female candidates recorded better mean scores than male candidates in English, Kiswahili, CRE, Home Science and Art and Design.
Mean scores
And male candidates recorded better mean scores than female candidates in Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, General Science, History and government, Geography, Agriculture, Computer Studies and Business Studies.
Subjects previously done by candidates in the afternoon registered a major drop in performance.
Previously, afternoon papers were picked in the morning and it was noted that this gave ample time for early exposure.
The double collection policy for the national examination papers was introduced last year by the Ministry of Education. It would see papers picked from distribution centres twice in a day.
This meant that in the morning, exam centre managers only picked the first paper and later returned to pick the afternoon paper.
Machogu noted that the implementation of the double collection policy substantially reduced cases of early exposure which was a recipe for exam irregularities.