The number of candidates who scored 400 marks and above in the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam has dropped.
While announcing the results of the last 2023 cohort to sit the KCPE exams which has been phased out, Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu said 8,523 candidates scored 400 marks and above, compared to 9443 last year.
“In the 2023 KCPE Examination, 8,523 candidates(0.60%)attained a score of 400 marks and above. Thiswasadrop compared with the 2022 KCPE Examination when9,443 candidates (0.76%) scored ” Machogu said Thursday when he released the results at Mitihani house.
The decline was witnessed in the overall performance with the mark of the highest candidate dropping by three points from 431 in 2022 to 428 in 2023.
According to Machogu, 352,782 candidates scored between 300-399 marks, an increase compared to 307,756 last year.
“The percentage of candidates scoring between300and399 was comparable to last year with a percentage score 31 of 24.94% (307,756) in 2022 and 24.92%(352,782) in 2023” he added.
Those in the 200-299 bracket were 658,278, up from 619, 593 in 2022. 383,025 candidates managed between 100-199 marks, a significant improvement from last year’s 296,336.
However, there was a rise in the scores of candidates with less than 100 marks. This year 2060 candidates had 99 marks and below compared to 724 last year.
Subjects
On performance, languages namely English, Kiswahili, and sign language all recorded significant improvement compared to KCPE 2022 with female candidates performing better than their male counterparts.
Male candidates performed slightly better than female counterparts in Mathematics and Sciences.
The other subjects recorded a slight decline in performance.
“Two papers, English Language and Kenyan SignLanguage Composition, recorded an improvement in performance in the year 2023 when compared with the year 2022 while eight (papers, English Composition, Kiswahili, Kiswahili Insha, Kenya Sign Language, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies and Religious Education recorded a slight drop in performance in the year 2023 when compared to the year 2022” Machogu said.
1,406,557 million candidates sat the last KCPE exam in 28,533 examination centers across the country from October 30, 2023, to November 1, 2023.
Pupils who missed the November 2023 Examinations will have an opportunity to sit a special examination in January 2024.
8-4-4 System
The 8-4-4 curriculum which has been in existence for 39 years has been replaced with the Competency-Based Curriculum, which is a 2-6-6-3 system.
Since 1985, 39 cohorts have sat the KCPE examination, with two major reviews made on the assessment tools and awarding criteria.
KCPE examination has been offered to over 26 million candidates and a total of 103,000 non-citizens have been certified after sitting for the examinations
Individual examination results can be accessed by sending the candidate’s Index number followed by the initials ‘KCPE’ to SMS code 40054.
