KCPE 2019: Number of pupils with 400 marks drop, overall improvement recorded

The 2019 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination results are out and though there was a marked improvement compared to 2018, the number of pupils who recorded 400 marks and above, dropped.

While the top student was Master Andy Michael Munyiri who scored 440 marks, the second position was crowded with three pupils, two girls and a boy, all tying with 439 marks.

Flavian Onyango, June Cheptoo Koech and Sean Michael Ndungu tied for the second position.

The number of candidates who scored 400 marks and above dropped to 9,770 from last year’s 11,559. But at the same time, there was a marked rise in candidates who scored 300-400 marks compared to last year.

Magoha also reported an improvement in four out of six papers; English, Swa, Sign language, Social Studies and Religion while Math and Science recorded a drop.

The results, which were released 17 days after the completion of the exam – a new record – recorded the fewest number of exam malpractices.

“There were one or two cases of impersonation and none of the exam papers leaked which is historic,” said Magoha.

The Cabinet Secretary also lauded the decreased cases of underage pregnancies compared to 2018 thanking parents “for spending time with their children.”

All of the 1,088,456 pupils who sat their KCPE exams will proceed to Secondary School as part of the government’s 100% transition program with a record Ksh.8 billion released to improve infrastructure in primary and secondary schools.

“All children will have a place in secondary school. By 2nd Dec, every child who sat KCPE 2019 will know what school they will join.

We have assured our children that all of them will have a place in Secondary School,” said Magoha. “The President has given us very firm instructions to ensure a transparent, fair and very quick placing of these children… By the December 2, every child in this country should be able to know which school they are going to.”