Drugs Menace is our greatest problem not corruption

The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) recently announced the cut-off point for placement of 2016 KCSE candidates to degree and diploma courses in university.
This year, the cut-off is an aggregate of C+ of 46 points. It is in line with the assurance by Education CS Fred Matiangi that all candidates who attained the minimum entry requirement would be admitted to university.

A statement on the KUCCPS website reads: “After considering the total declared capacities in both public and private universities for degree programmes under Government sponsorship, taking into account analysis of the 2016 KCSE examination results, the Placement Service Board has set the cut-off point for placement to degree programmes at the minimum aggregate of C+ (46 points).”

This is certainly lower than it has been previously. In comparison, last year’s cut-off was a B of 58 points for girls and 60 points for boys.
Elisha Shivogo, who graduated in 2010, believes this is an indicator of declining academic standards.

“During our time, many of these students who will now get into university would not have had a chance,” he says. “46 is very low, compared to what it has been. It is possible they will be unable to cope with the workload at the university. This is the same group of students who have been around exam cheating all through their time in school.”

He admitted, however, that this does not necessarily mean that our graduates will be less qualified.

“At the end of the day, it’s your effort that counts. Once they get to university, their ability is what will count, not how they get in.”
This was echoed by Dr. Phillip Adoyo, a lecturer who teaches Accounting and Finance at Maseno University.

“As a lecturer, I have seen several cases of students performing contrary to expectation in university. I have taught a student who had to go through a parallel programme, having scored a C+ and taking a diploma. But he was the only one in his class to get first-class honours.”

He added that the cut-off point was perfectly reasonable, considering the results of the K.C.S.E examinations.