NAIROBI,Kenya, Mar, 28 – Before the results of the 2021 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination were made public, Education Cabinet Secretary professor George Magoha made the ceremonial stop to State House Nairobi, where he briefed President Uhuru Kenyatta on the performance of candidates.
Shortly after, a few meters at the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) headquarters, the CS was standing by to brief the nation and most importantly the 1,225,693 candidates who eagerly sat at home pensively following proceedings.
The 2021 KCPE candidates were forced to sit their exams this year, after the academic calendar was grossly affected following the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
It is worth noting that this year, another cohort of candidates will sit their KCPE,KCSE and the inaugural grade six assessment at the end of the year.
Top 2021 KCPE Candidate Nationwide
Magata Bruce Mackenzie from Gilgil Hills Academy emerged the country’s top student scoring 428 marks out of a possible 500 marks.
Coming in close second was Momanyi Ashley Kerubo from Making School Kibos who scored 427 marks.
Meanwhile the third position was occupied by at least six candidates.
Below is table highlighting the top 10 candidates nationwide.
In the 2021 KCPE examination, overall performance improved compared to 2020. Although the highest mark dropped from 433 in 2020 to 428 in 2021.
“The mean average performance and quality of grades for all candidates is higher, For example, whereas 8,091 (0.68%) candidates scored between 400 and 500 marks in the 2020 KCPE, the number increased to 11,857 (0.97%) in the 2021 KCPE. This is an indicator that most candidates scored better scores than the previous year,” said Magoha.
The mark range between candidates in the top 10 places was only 3 points with female candidates scooping six positions in the top 10 slots nationwide.
KCPE 2021 Performance Per Subject
Compared to the exams in 2020, six papers recorded an improvement in performance in the year 2021.
These are English Composition, Kiswahili Lugha, Kiswahili Insha, Kenyan Sign Language Composition, Science and Social Studies.
“Three other papers, Mathematics, English Language and Religious Education, recorded a drop in performance in 2021 when compared to 2020, while Kenyan Sign Language recorded a comparable performance in 2021 and 2020,” said Magoha.
Meanwhile female candidates are said to have performed better compared to their male counterparts in English and Kiswahili while male candidates performed slightly better than their female counterparts in Kenyan Sign Language, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies and Religious Education.
Candidates With Special Needs
The number of candidates with Special Needs was lower in the year 2021 (2,483) when compared to that of the year 2020 (2,675).
The categories with the highest number of candidates with special needs in the 2021 KCPE examination were those with physical disabilities (1,013), followed by those with hearing impairment (734).
The highest SNE candidate scored 417 marks compared with the top candidate who scored 420 marks in 2020 KCPE out of the possible 500 marks.
Below is a table on the overall performance of SNE candidates
“The number of candidates who sat the KCPE examination under special circumstances, including those who sat the examination in hospitals, decreased from 1,240 in the year 2020 to 1,067 in the year 2021,” said Magoha.
Even as a significant number of candidates who sat their exam were in the right age bracket, the education ministry said that,the number of registered candidates who were 12 years and below increased from 26,378 amounting to 2.21 per cent in 2020 to 33,627 amounting to 2.74 per cent in 2021.
The counties which had the highest entry for candidates who were 12 years and below in the 2021 KCPE examination were: Baringo,Bomet, Kericho,West Pokot and Nyamira.These counties, except Nyamira, recorded a similar trend in the 2020 KCPE examination.
Candidature Details For KCPE Exams 2021
The number of candidates who sat the KCPE examination under special circumstances, including those who sat the examination in hospitals, decreased from 1,240 in the year 2020 to 1,067 in the year 2021 while the number of candidates who were absent decreased from 12,424 (1.04 per cent) in 2020 to 11,523 (0.94 per cent) in 2021 KCPE examination.
A total of 1,214,031 candidates who sat the examination in 28,313 centres across the country will receive their results today and will thus be legible for admission to secondary schools.
“Of these candidates, 610,384 (50.28 per cent) were boys and 603,647 (49.72 per cent) girls.In the 2020 KCPE, 1,179,192 candidates sat the examination. The candidature increased by 34,839 (2.95 per cent) in 2021 when compared to 2020. Male and female candidates increased by 19,934 (3.27 per cent and 14,905 (2.47 per cent) respectively,” said Magoha.
KCPE Exam Irregularities
Magoha has repeatedly insisted that the exams did not like but blamed instances where some candidates with phones receives exam papers on the material day to ‘early exposure’.
320 candidates across seven examination centers are said to have colluded during the examination exercise.
The candidates are expected to be awarded a mark of zero in the affected subjects.
“I am talking firmly because there are some we have caught, not that exams were leaked, you attempt, if you were caught with a cell phone there is price which you pay which is not sweet,” said Magoha who further said that, “I don’t think there is a child that was caught with all the papers…even if you passed only one you will go to a school that is appropriate for you,”
The placement of candidates to secondary school is expected to be conducted within the next two weeks accordant o Magoha.
Meanwhile, the KCPE Examination results will be available for collection by respective schools from the Sub County Education offices with candidates told to collect their results from their respective examination centres.
“Individual candidates’ results can also be accessed by sending a candidate’s index number followed by the initials KCPE through a Short Message Service (SMS) to 20076. This service will be available immediately after this event,”
“it is the wish of the president that every child receives their results, deal with the parents later, because as far as the public is concerned public school is free, even in private schools, you must give the results to the child,”
Headteachers will be required to download and print the online results slips for candidates in their schools and authenticate the same before they are released to parents, guardians or candidates.
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