Girls excel in languages, boys in Maths and Science

Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu. [Denish Ochieng,Standard]

The 2023 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) results were released on Thursday, November 23 by Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu at the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) headquarters in South B, Nairobi.

A total of 1,406,557 candidates sat the exams.

This was the second year that both KCPE and Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) were offered to the candidates.

The top scorer in the 2023 KCPE was Michael Warutere from Riara Springs, Nairobi who scored 428 marks out of 500.

The performance of male and female candidates was comparable in Social Studies and Religious Education subjects.

However, female candidates performed slightly better than their male counterparts in English, Kiswahili, and Kenyan Sign Language.

Male candidates performed slightly better than female candidates in Mathematics and Science.

Two papers, English Language and Kenyan Sign Language Composition, recorded an improvement in performance in the year 2023 compared with 2022.

Eight papers, English Composition, Kiswahili, Kiswahili Insha, Kenya Sign Language, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Religious Education recorded a slight drop in performance in 2023 when compared to the previous year.

In the 2023 KCPE examination, 8,523 candidates (0.60 per cent) attained a score of 400 marks and above.

This was a drop compared with the 2022 KCPE Examination when 9,443 candidates (0.76 per cent) scored 400 marks and above.

The percentage of candidates scoring between 300 and 399 was comparable to last year with a percentage score of 24.94 per cent (307,756) in 2022 and 24.92 per cent (352,782) in 2023.

Machogu commended the candidates and all officials for ensuring that the integrity and credibility of the 2023 KCPE Examination remained high.

Only two candidates out of the total of 1,406,557 were involved in examination malpractices during the 2023 KCPE examination.

One of the candidates was found with unauthorized notes in the examination room while the other candidate was found with a mobile phone in the examination room.

Form 1 placement will be completed by the end of December 2023 and schools to open on January 8, 2024, for the new calendar.

Candidates can check their results by sending their index numbers to the 40054 SMS code.

This will be the last KCPE results under the 8-4-4 education system in Kenya after the adoption of the Competency-Based Curriculum, which aims to equip learners with skills and competencies for the 21st century. The 8-4-4 education system has been in action for 39 years since its introduction in 1985.