Rawlings Odhiambo of Kakamega Hill School and Olive Wachira of Riara School in Nairobi emerged joint top candidates in the 2018 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education, each scoring 453 marks. The results were released on November 20, 2018, just 19 days after the last paper, a turnaround the education ministry linked to reforms introduced over the previous three years.
Education CS Amina Mohammed announced the results at Star of the Sea Primary School in Mombasa and said the faster release was meant to give families time to plan the next stage. She also said Form One selection would begin on December 3, with only one selection round and no second placement exercise.
The top score was two marks below last year’s leader, Goldalyn Kakuya of St Ann Junior School, Lubao, who had 455 marks in 2017. Ministry data showed a slight improvement in overall performance, while the number of candidates scoring above 400 rose sharply to 12,273 from 9,846 in 2017.
According to the breakdown, 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 was leaked.
Kenya National Examinations Council chairman Prof George Magoha said cheating had been eliminated, though he criticised a small number of teachers and officials caught in malpractice. He said, “Cheating in exams is a thing of the past,” and added that the ministry remained firm against those undermining the process.
The 2018 KCPE was sat by 1,052,364 candidates. Of these, 228,414 scored between 301 and 400 marks, 574,927 scored between 201 and 300, 234,573 scored between 101 and 200, and 2,177 scored below 100.
President Uhuru Kenyatta said all candidates would be admitted to Form One, a move that was expected to intensify competition for the 114 national schools with limited vacancies. Amina said the government had already put measures in place to ensure no child stayed at home next year, and Education PS Belio Kipsang had circulated instructions to field officers and school managers to support the transition.
The ministry said the exam exercise, which ran from October 30 to November 1, involved 183,497 professionals. They 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.
Amina said the tougher measures introduced in 2016 had helped restore confidence in national examinations. She also said only four candidates had their results cancelled over impersonation and would be allowed to sit again next year.
She dismissed criticism of the heavy monitoring, saying the government’s resolve to protect academic integrity should not be treated as a problem. For the first time in KCPE history, the President had deployed Cabinet and other senior officials to make unannounced visits to selected examination centres as part of the anti-cheating drive.
