PRESS STATEMENT ON THE RELEASE OF THE 2023 KCPE EXAMINATION RESULTS BY HON EZEKIEL MACHOGU, CBS, CABINET SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, ON NOVEMBER 23, 2023 AT KNEC OFFICES, IN SOUTH C, NAIROBI

• Principal Secretary,   State    Department                of               Basic Education, Belio Kipsang;
• Chairperson, National Assembly Education Committee, Julius Melly;
• Chairperson, Senate Standing Committee on Education, Joe Nyutu;
• Chairperson, Kenya   National                    Examinations       Council, Julius Nyabundi;
• Chief Executive Officer, Teachers Service Commission, Nancy Macharia;
• Chief Executive Officer, Kenya National Examinations Council, David Njengere;
• KNEC Council Members;
• CEOs of various organisations
• Senior Officials of the Ministry of Education;
• Representatives of Unions and Associations;
• KNEC staff;
• Media;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Good morning,

When the first set of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education Examination results were released 39 years ago, few would have imagined that the KCPE story would last so long.

Yet since 1985, minister after minister, cabinet secretary after cabinet secretary have stood here to narrate the success story of the KCPE Examination. A story that will be told, over and over again, by many Kenyans, the

majority of them products of the 8-4-4 Education System that has for years served our country immensely well. No one can indeed gainsay the fact that the 8-4-4 education system has produced some of the best brains that have made our country walk tall, both academically and in the world of work, regionally and globally as well.

So as I stand before Kenyans today, I must make it abundantly clear that my mission is not to sing KCPE dirges. Rather, I am here to celebrate and remind my fellow Kenyans that we are only transitioning from a structure of education that has served us well for four decades to one that will serve us even better.

I must further emphasize to Kenyans that the midwives of the new shift in the education structure to the Competency Based Curriculum will mainly be the products of the KCPE Examination, totaling 39 cohorts. Remember that a candidate who sat the KCPE Examination in 1985 at the age of 14 is now aged 53. If this was a teacher, he or she would now be one of our most experienced teachers, likely at the level of head teacher.

At our universities, such a professional would have risen to the level of a full professor. Indeed, this is an apt illustration of the fact that many of the professionals serving our country at every sphere are indeed products of the KCPE Examination whose last results I am announcing today.

So, juxtaposed with the release of the first KCPE Examination results, I also feel privileged to be the one at the apex of the transition point from the KCPE Examination to the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment, which has been conducted in 2023 for only the second year.

This story of the end of KCPE will not be complete, therefore, if I do not individually mention some of the special groups of people that have been part of the successes, highs and lows of the examinations that have often sparked wild celebrations in many parts of the country; celebrations that we are all but bringing to an end this year:

7. The four Presidents of Kenya whose Governments steered the implementation of the KCPE Examinations and equipped schools successfully to ensure quality products came out of our Standard Eight national examinations.
8. His Excellency President William Samoei Ruto for appointing the Presidential Working Party on Education reforms, whose report has provided a crystal clear roadmap that will guide the transition from 8-4-4 to the CBC.
9. Our indefatigable primary school teachers both in private and public schools who have year after year prepared our candidates for the KCPE
10. Field officers from both the Ministry of Education and the Teachers Service Commission who have combed every part of the country for 38 years checking that learners are taught well and that quality is upheld.
11. Security agencies from the Ministry of Interior and National Administration and Ministry of ICT who annually work to ensure security of the KCPE
12. Parents who toiled and moiled to support the implementation of the primary school system under the 8-4-4, even when there were concerns of resource constraints.
13. Development partners who committed their resources to support our country in implementing the school infrastructure.

The list of all those that I wish to acknowledge for their role in the success of the 8-4-4 system in the primary school level is endless. Allow me to, therefore, thank everyone who, in one way or the other, was instrumental in the success of our school system. I welcome you to extend your generous support to the implementation of the CBC.

MULTI-AGENCY EXAMINATION ADMINISTRATION

Allow me to register my appreciation to His Excellency the President Dr. William Ruto for leading the agenda of education in the country and for entrusting me to coordinate his work at the sector level. Education impacts on each household at individual levels; it is the backbone of any country’s socio-economic wellbeing. Our President has made all efforts to ensure that the quality of education is upheld through various initiatives instituted under his leadership.

I also wish to recognize with appreciation the support accorded to the Ministry of Education by my counterparts in other Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies during the field administration of the KCPE and the ongoing KCSE examinations. This Multi-Agency collaboration spearheaded by my colleagues, Prof. Kithure Kindiki and Eng. Eliud Owalo from the Ministries of Interior and Coordination of National Government and IT and Digital Economy cannot go unnoticed.

I am proud that our country managed to deliver the KCPE Examination in the face of the El-Nino challenges. In some cases, it was difficult to access some of our examination centres that were cut off by floods. Delivery of examination materials to some of the 576 distribution centres countrywide was affected by the heavy rains. This necessitated use of air transport in order to ensure that all candidates successfully sat their examinations.

I wish to thank all the teachers, field officers, security officers, KNEC officers and other stakeholders who braved the bad weather challenges to conduct examinations.

TRANSITION OF LAST KCPE EXAMINATION COHORT TO SECONDARY EDUCATION

The fact that the 2023 KCPE Examination cohort was the last under the 8-4-4 has given the Government’s 100 per cent transition policy from primary to secondary school level greater importance. We are all aware that any candidate who would fail to transition to Form One will not have any opportunity to repeat a class as was the case in the past, owing to the end of the KCPE Examination.

Aware of this, the Ministry of Education ensured that all learners who were in Class 8 sat the 2023 examinations even in cases where they had not been registered. As a result, 205 candidates who had not been registered for the KCPE Examination this year took advantage of the registration waiver to sit the examination. They are therefore among those whose results we are releasing today and they will, therefore, have an opportunity to join Form One next year.

To ensure no candidate misses out on joining Form One from the final 2023 KCPE Examination cohort, the Ministry of Education will conduct thorough mapping of any of those who may have failed to sit the Examination in order to administer to them a Special Examination in January 2024. The indicative figure we have at the moment is 9,354 candidates.

I wish to assure the country that the Government has enough capacity to accommodate all the 1,406,557 candidates who sat the KCPE Examination in 2023.

Therefore, all parents should take advantage of the 100 per cent transition policy to enroll their children in Form One.

COMPETENCY BASED CURRICULUM

I wish to assure the country that we are fully prepared and committed to a seamless transition from the 8-4-4 to the CBC. Many of the issues that were unclear in this transition process up to last year have now been solved through the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms Report. Currently, we are preparing a Sessional Paper, and necessary draft legislation, for submission to Parliament for consideration. Once passed, the documents will anchor most of the recommendations of the Presidential Working Party Report.

As per plan, the first cohort of the CBC learners will transition to Grade 8 in January. All education indicators show that the cohort is undergoing quality learning and teaching. I wish to assure the country that all curriculum materials are in place to support the learners.

One other recommendation that the Working Party made regarded the funding of public universities and TVET institutions. The Working Party recommended the introduction of the Variable Scholarship and Loan Funding model, under which students are funded depending on their level of need. I am happy to announce that the roll- out of the New Funding Model has been successful. Already, the Higher Education Loans Board has released the sum of Kshs. 5.2 Billion to first year students in our various public universities. In a short while, we will be disbursing scholarship amounts to the universities as well as TVET institutions and trainees, once the necessary processing is completed.

We are confident that the New Funding Model will gradually restore our Universities and TVET institutions to a path of financial security and sustainability, thereby allowing them to focus on their core mandates of education, training and research.

OVERALL CANDIDATURE HISTORY

Since 1985, a total of 26,067,181 candidates have been examined during the KCPE Examination. I am happy to report that the 8-4-4 period has recorded an improvement on achieving the gender parity in the education sector. In 1985, the country had a low gender parity favouring male at 59.2% and female at 40.8%. Encouragingly, from 2013 to 2022, the country achieved near equal gender parity for male and female candidates. However, in the 2023 KCPE Examination, the gender parity slightly shifted in favour of male at 51.30% and female at 48.70%.

In the 2023 KCPE Examination, there were 1,406,557 candidates who sat the KCPE examination in 28,533 examination centres across the country. Of these, there were 721,544 (51.30%) male and 685,017 (48.70%) female candidates who sat the examination.

A total of 205 candidates who were not registered were allowed to sit the 2023 KCPE examination. Of these, 125 were male while 80 were female candidates.

COUNTY CANDIDATURE STATISTICS

Ten counties had a significant entry of more male than female candidates. These counties were Mandera

(52.05%:47.95%);     and    Makueni                               (52.03%:47.97%)

counties.

Isiolo (48.25%:51.75%) county recorded a significant entry of more female than male candidates.

CANDIDATES’ AGE PROFILES

The counties which had the highest percentages of candidates who were 12 years and below in the year 2023 KCPE Examination were: Baringo (7.30%), Wajir (6.37%), Bomet (5.99%), Kericho (5.82%) and West Pokot (5.57%).

The highest number of candidates in the KCPE Examination were in the appropriate age bracket of 13-15 years (1,023,859; 72.31%), a trend which has been observed over the last five years.

The counties which had the highest percentages of candidates who were 18 years and above were Garissa (25.86%), Turkana (24.50%), Kwale (16.09%), Kilifi

(15.66%) and Mandera (33.90%).

THE 2023 KCPE CANDIDATES’ PERFORMANCE PER SUBJECT

Two papers, English Language and Kenyan Sign Language Composition, recorded an improvement in performance in the year 2023 when compared with the year 2022 while eight (08) 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.

In terms of gender, the performance of male and female candidates was comparable in Social Studies & Religious Education. However, female candidates performed slightly better than their male counterparts in English, Kiswahili and Kenyan Sign Language.

Male candidates performed slightly better than their female counterparts in Mathematics and Science.

PERFORMANCE   OF   CANDIDATES   IN THE 2023 KCPE EXAMINATION

In the 2023 KCPE Examination, 8,523 candidates (0.60%) attained a score of 400 marks and above. This was a drop compared with the 2022 KCPE Examination when 9,443 candidates (0.76%) scored 400 marks and above.

The percentage of candidates scoring between 300 and 399 was comparable to last year with a percentage score of 24.94% (307,756) in 2022 and 24.92% (352,782) in

2023. The full summary is as follows:

The highest score this year is 428 marks.

EXAMINATION IRREGULARITIES

I wish to commend the candidates and all officials for ensuring that the integrity and credibility of the 2023 KCPE Examination remained high. Only two candidates out of the total 1,406,557 were involved in examination malpractices during the 2023 KCPE examination. One of the candidates was found with unauthorized notes in the examination room while the other candidate was found with a mobile phone in the examination room.

FORM ONE PLACEMENT FOR THE 2023 KCPE EXAMINATION CANDIDATES

As I have already said, the Ministry will offer Form One placement opportunities to all the candidates who sat the 2023 KCPE Examination in our public and private secondary schools.

Already, the   Ministry   has   developed   a   fair   and transparent system for Form One placement that will ensure national, regional and socio-economic balance is achieved. The placement process will start on Monday 27th November 2023 and conclude within a period of two weeks. This will allow parents and guardians adequate time to prepare their children to join Form One in 2024.

I therefore urge our parents, guardians and all stakeholders to ensure that all our learners transit to secondary school level so as to complete their basic education, which is critical to their survival and also beneficial for the country’s development and growth.

ACCESSING OF THE 2023 KCPE EXAMINATION RESULTS

The 2023 KCPE Examination candidates are urged to collect their results from their respective examination centres. Individual candidate results can also be accessed by sending a candidate’s index number followed by the initials “KCPE” through a Short Message Service (SMS) to 40054. This service will be available immediately after this event.

It is now my humble duty and privilege to declare the 2023 KCPE Examination results officially released. I wish all candidates success in their future endeavours.

HON. EZEKIEL MACHOGU, CBS

CABINET SECRETARY MINISTRY OF EDUCATION