The Ministry of Education has launched a search for all the 48,000 students who scored grade Es in the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination.
Basic Education PS Belio Kipsang said the government intends to ensure 100 percent enrollment to TVET institutions for students who scored low grades in last year’s national exam.
Kipsang added that the Ministry has initiated measures to address the issue of low grades in the country including collaboration with the Teachers Service Commission to boost the education sector.
“We want to go deep into addressing that particular challenge because that is a huge wastage that must be dealt with adequately so that more of our children can transit to the next level of being productive in the society. Our children must get a return from the investments we are putting into the education sector,” he said.
While releasing the results of the 2023 KCSE exam on January 8, 2024, Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Ezekiel Machogu said a large number of learners who sat the exam scored Es.
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“As Cabinet Secretary, I am also pained by the fact that a large number of candidates 48,174 or 5.33% still ended up scoring a mean grade of E in the year 2023 KCSE examination even after the Ministry used a more flexible system of computing the final overall candidate results,” he said.
Machogu further called for an investigation into poor performance in the 2023 KSCE exams.
“I, therefore, direct the directorate of quality assurance to work with field officers and teachers to investigate this, E grade cases in each county of the country and submit a report to me within one month for further action,” Machogu said.
“As a country, we must start interrogating data and evidence to enable us to make critical decisions that would ensure we realize our return on investment from all resources that the government puts in the education sector,” he added.
Kipsang explained that the Ministry is spending 30 percent of its resources or Sh650 billion on education adding that there must be a return on the investment.