Rawlings Odhiambo of Kakamega Hill School and Olive Wachira of Riara School in Nairobi shared the top position in the 2018 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exam after each scored 453 marks.
The results were announced on 20 November 2018, just 19 days after the last paper, a turnaround Education CS Amina Mohammed linked to reforms introduced over the previous three years. She made the announcement at Star of the Sea Primary School in Mombasa and said the faster release was meant to give pupils and parents enough time to prepare for the next stage.
Selection for Form One was set to begin on 3 December, with the government insisting there would be only one selection round. Amina said candidates who received admission letters would report only to the schools where they had been placed, and she quoted the President’s directive that families should go into the Christmas break already knowing where the children had been admitted.
The top score was two marks below last year’s best performance by Goldalyn Kakuya of St Ann Junior School, Lubao, who had posted 455 marks. Overall, the ministry said performance improved slightly compared with 2017.
Analysis of the results showed girls outperformed boys in English, Kiswahili and Kenya Sign Language, while boys led in Mathematics, Science, Social Studies and Religious Education.
Amina said none of the nine examination papers had been leaked. Kenya National Examinations Council chairman Prof George Magoha said cheating had been eliminated, though he criticised a small number of teachers and officials who were caught in malpractice.
The ministry said 12,273 candidates scored 400 marks and above. Another 228,414 scored between 301 and 400, while 574,927 fell in the 201 to 300 range. A further 234,573 candidates scored between 101 and 200, and 2,177 of the 1,052,364 candidates who sat the exam scored below 100.
President Uhuru Kenyatta had already ordered that all candidates be admitted to Form One, a move that was expected to intensify competition for the 114 national schools, which have limited vacancies. The Kenya National Examinations Council said the number of candidates scoring above 400 rose by 2,427 from 2017, when 9,846 candidates crossed that mark. The data also showed that half of the candidates scored above 200.
Amina said the ministry had put measures in place to ensure no child stayed at home next year. Education PS Belio Kipsang had circulated instructions to field officers and school managers to support the transition.
She credited the stronger performance to the tougher anti-cheating measures introduced in 2016. According to the CS, attempts at early exposure of examination material at some centres were stopped before they could spread, and she said the exams were conducted on one of the most level playing fields ever.
Only four candidates had their results cancelled for impersonation, and they will be allowed to sit again next year. Amina also dismissed criticism of the heavy monitoring, saying it was surprising that efforts to restore respect for academic papers were being questioned.
For the first time in KCPE history, President Kenyatta deployed Cabinet and other senior officials to make impromptu visits to selected examination centres across the country. The exercise was part of the wider effort to curb cheating, which had threatened the credibility of national exams three years earlier.
The ministry said 183,497 professionals were contracted for the 2018 exercise, which ran from 30 October to 1 November. The team included 27,354 supervisors, 65,107 invigilators, 54,322 security officers, 27,161 centre managers, 918 examination management directors, 1,844 security officers manning containers and 6,791 drivers.
