Interrogate cause of drop in 2017 KCSE exam performance

Wednesday’s release of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary School Examination (KCSE) results was yet another milestone in keeping in tandem with the reforms that Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i and the Kenya National Examinations Council under George Magoha put in place to restore the lost dignity of our education system. The early release came as a surprise to many, for traditionally, the release used to extend into the following year.

At the time of release, results from 10 secondary schools were withheld over cheating-related cases. At least 40 teachers and school principals are said to be in custody over attempts to open examination papers ahead of time with the intention to leak answers to candidates.

But this pales in comparison to the massive cheating earlier perpetrated by cartels that procured exam papers in advance and sold them to willing candidates. The good grades registered in the exams at the time did not, however, reflect the true competence of some of the candidates.  

According to Dr Matiangi, “Some examination thieves, having lost their opportunities for cheating like in previous years, used all means to access examination materials in 2017.

Some unscrupulous teachers also relayed prepared notes to candidates in examination centres in a desperate attempt to give the candidates an unfair advantage. Five candidates who were caught engaging in examination malpractices were disqualified from sitting the exams. 

The number of students who sat the KCSE exam in 2017 was 611,952, representing a 6.59 per cent increase from the 574,125 who sat the exam in 2016.

In terms of gender, male students numbered 315,630, representing 51.58 per cent while girls, at 48.42 per cent, numbered 296,322. This is a pointer to the fact that Government efforts to achieve gender parity in education are bearing fruit.

Notably, in 15 counties, the number of female candidates was higher than males, denoting that the girl child is no longer disadvantaged in the quest for quality education as was the case before, more often, because of cultural norms that valued boys over girls. These counties include Taita Taveta, Nyandarua, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Murang’a, Kiambu, Machakos, Kitui, Meru, Makueni, Tharaka Nithi, Laikipia, Elgeyo Marakwet, Vihiga and Kisumu counties.

However, going by the statistics made available, there was a significant drop in performance. The number of candidates who attained the highest overall Mean Grade (A Plain) in the KCSE examination was 142, only one more than in 2016 when they were 141. Those who got grade A minus, dropped from 4,645 in 2016 to 2,714 in 2017.

This big drop should worry because it signifies a degree of laxity, perhaps more on the side of the teaching fraternity than that of the students. The students may also have performed poorly because the Government was unable or unwilling to employ enough teachers.

While in 2016 the number of subjects noted to have markedly improved was 20, the number dropped to 13 in 2017. Overall, the number of candidates with minimum university entry qualification, Grade C+ and above, is 70,073, representing 11.38 per cent in the 2017 KCSE examination compared to 88,929 (15.41 per cent) in 2016.

Factors contributing to the drop in performance and subject improvement should be interrogated to guarantee that performance, as the quality of education improves from a new curriculum, maintains an upward trajectory. Curbing exam cheating without improving the grades is not very reassuring.

The Government has been boasting about massive school intake and ‘free’ education without looking at the post-secondary transition. How will the Government, for instance, deal with the 541,879 who could not make the university entry point in the face stringent measures to close down some of the satellite colleges that offered parallel degree courses, or even some of the universities operating without full charters?

Leaving such a huge number of youths to their devices could be counterproductive. The Government’s commitment to reopening some of the middle level colleges should be followed through.