Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has today released the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination results.
During the 2023 KCSE Examination, a total of 899,453 candidates sat the Examination.
Speaking at Moi Girls High school Eldoret, the CS noted that the number of candidates that sat the 2023 KCSE Examination was less by 3,685 compared with the number that actually registered to sit the Examination.
He noted that he has directed the relevant Directorate of Quality Assurance to work with the Kenya National Examinations Council to investigate the 3,685 candidates who failed to sit the Examination with a view to unearthing their true identity and whereabouts.
“Of the 899,453 candidates who sat the 2023 KCSE Examination, 450,554 were male, while 448,899 were female, representing 50.09% and 49.91% of the total candidature respectively and this indicates that the country has achieved gender parity at the secondary education level,” said CS Machogu.
The CS noted that out of the 30 subjects offered in 2023, 12 subjects recorded a significant improvement in performance; these subjects were :Mathematics, Kiswahili, Biology, Biology for the Blind, CRE, Business Studies, German, Music, Chemistry, Building Construction, French and Electricity while 14 subjects recorded a drop in performance, namely English, Kenyan Sign Language, Physics, Computer Studies, History & Government, Geography, IRE, Agriculture, Home Science, Wood Work, Metal Work, Power Mechanics, Drawing & Design and Art & Design.
He further noted that female candidates recorded better mean score performance than male candidates in five subjects: English, Kiswahili, CRE, Home Science and Art & Design while Male candidates recorded better mean score performance than female candidates in ten subjects: Mathematics Alt. A & B, Biology, Chemistry, General Science, History & Government, Geography, Agriculture, Computer Studies and Business Studies.
Machogu disclosed that there were 1,216 (0.14%) candidates who obtained an overall grade A in the year 2023 KCSE Examination compared to 1,146 (0.13%) candidates in the year 2022.
He said the number of candidates who attained the minimum university entry qualification (Grade C+ and above) was 201,133 (22.27%) in the year 2023 KCSE Examination compared to 173,345 (19.62%) in the year 2022.
“This is as a result of the application of a new grading system that reduced the number of compulsory subjects required to compute the mean grade,” said the CS.
“The number of candidates attaining a pass grade (grade D+ and above) was 526,222 (58.27%) in the year 2023 KCSE Examination compared to 522,588 (59.14%) in the year 2022,” noted Machogu.
He revealed that the National schools produced the highest number of candidates with an overall mean grade of A (889: 2.486%) followed by Extra County (172:0.096%), Private Schools (143;0.221%), County Schools (5;0.004%) and Sub County Schools (7;0.001%).
“I am impressed by the quality of grades that are coming out of our Sub-County schools that produced 283 candidates with mean grades of A and A- in the 2023 KCSE Examination and I urge all stakeholders to invest more in the Sub County schools, where more of our learners attend school,” noted Machogu.
“I am pained by the fact that a large number of candidates (48,174 or 5.33%) still ended up scoring a mean grade of E in the 2023 KCSE Examination even after the Ministry used a more flexible system of computing the final overall candidate results,” he noted.
He requested the Directorate of Quality Assurance to work with other field officers and teachers to investigate the E Grade cases in each county of the country and submit a report to him within one month for further action.
“As a Country, we must start interrogating data and evidence to enable us to make critical decisions that would ensure that we realise our return on investment from all the resources that the Government puts into the education sector,” he said.
He pointed out that there were a total of 4,113 candidates who were reported to have been involved in examination irregularities in the 2023 KCSE Examination and the Council has cancelled results of four cases of reported impersonation after completing investigations and the results of the remaining 4,109 candidates who were suspected to have engaged in examination irregularities have been withheld pending the completion of investigations into their cases, within a period of 20 days from today.
“It is unfortunate that a few contracted professionals are still insistent on ruining the future of our learners by subjecting them to examination malpractices and 120 contracted professionals were reported to have been involved in aiding examination malpractices, therefore a firm disciplinary action will be taken against such teachers,” noted the Cs.
“A candidate can also access the individual 2023 KCSE results online through a link on the KNEC website or directly through the URL: https://results.knec.ac.ke you will be required to enter your candidate’s index number and the name(s) as per the registration data for the 2023 KCSE examination,” said Machogu.
He urged candidates to collect the provisional results from their respective examination centres.
By Judy Too
