Inspire learners who fail national exams
For the third consecutive year, the number of Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination candidates who qualified for university is dismally lower than the number that attained grades that may not enable them to pursue professional courses of their choice.
Of the 895,533 who wrote the test, only 201,133 scored C+ (plus) and above to qualify for direct entry to the university while 694,400 scored C (plain) and below. The number of candidates who attained E increased to 48,174.
Like the previous years, the 2023 results have revealed weaknesses in the education system that appears to be deliberately elitist and rewarding few candidates who perform well in national exams while ignoring the rest.
A total of 369,311 candidates scored grade D (plain) and below, meaning they are most likely to join the growing population of secondary school leavers who are either forced to seek low-paying, poorly and irregularly funded artisan courses or completely fall off the education system.
Despite the growing number of mass failure in national exams under the 8-4-4 system that is being phased out, the government has never seen any logic to make follow-up surveys to establish where the poor performing candidates go.
Looking at the exam result statistics over the last few years, while there has been an increase in the number of grade As and Bs, there has also been a worrying increment of the number of candidates scoring Ds and Es, which points to inefficiency and inequality in the education value chain.
For instance, this year’s results show that 1,216 candidates scored grade A (plain), 7,254 A- (minus), 18,078 B+ (plus), 36,728 B (plain), 59,514 B- (minus), 78,343 C+ (plus), 96,612 C (plain), 107,471 C- (minus), 125,006 D+ (plus), 155,276 D (plain) and 165,861 D- (minus).
The mass failure in national exams is not only a precursor to crime and general unhealthy behaviour, but also has a bearing on the emotional balance of students, democracy and social cohesion.
The government must, therefore, put in place all possible measures to restore hopes of the thousands of young people whose aspirations may have been dashed by the results.
