2017 KCPE Results: The return of public schools

Public primary schools, long outperformed and dominated by private institutions when it comes to national exam results seem to be crawling back to relevance and the government is promising lots of goodies.

Speaking while releasing the 2017 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCPE) exams, Education Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiang’i noted that the second best candidate came from a public school. He also announced that the number of candidates from schools in the top 100 slots also considerably increased this year.

According to the CS, the government will set up a special fund to allocate to all public schools that have produced students in the top 100 category for purposes of improving the infrastructure and growing their capacity.

“As we went round you can tell clearly that there was much more seriousness and focus in our candidates than last year. I am so grateful to the teachers. Primary school teachers are our heroes,” said Matiang’i.

No gap between boys and girls

The gap between boys and girls in this year’s KCPE examination was almost at par with 498,775 (50.19%) being boys while 494,943 (48.1%) were girls. The number of absentee candidates also fell significantly.

But 27 counties registered more girls than boys, with the CS exuding confidence that the ministry has, at last, achieved gender parity in education.

“Kakamega, Meru, Bungoma, Nairobi, Embu, Machakos, Vihiga, Kisii, Kitui, Makueni, Siaya, Busia, Nyamira, Tharaka Nithi, Trans-nzoia, Kisumu, Nakuru, Murang’a and Mombasa are some of the counties that registered slightly higher number of girls than boys,” added Matiang’i.

The number of children who scored below 100 marks also reduced. In 2016 6,747 candidates scored below the 100 mark but down years down the lane, only 2,360 achieved the fate.

This year, 9,846 candidates scored 400 and above marks as opposed to last year’s 5,143 candidates.