This archive report was first published on 20 December 2019.
Kenya's Education System: National Schools Maintain Dominance ¶
As the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam results for 2019 were released, it became clear that national schools in Kenya continue to dominate the education system. The results, announced by Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha on Wednesday, showed that national schools maintained their position as the top performers in the country.
According to the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec), national schools accounted for 79% of the top grades, with 495 students achieving grade A out of a total of 627. This is a stark contrast to county schools, which did not have any students achieve grade A, with their best performance being A- achieved by 135 candidates.
Among the top-performing national schools, The Kenya High School stood out with 76 As, followed by Kapsabet Boys with 49 As. Alliance High School came in third with 48 As, while Moi High School Kabarak, a private school, achieved 30 As. The top 10 schools, located in five counties, contributed 342 As to the total number of top grades.
Interestingly, the results also showed that more boys than girls achieved grade A, with 358 boys compared to 269 girls. Additionally, more boys (71,971) achieved grades C+ and above compared to girls (53,775).
Another emerging trend in the results is the rising number of counties enrolling more girls than boys. At least 17 counties had more girls compared to boys, including Meru, Vihiga, Kiambu, Elgeyo Marakwet, and others.
Despite the dominance of national schools, private schools in the Coast region outshined public institutions, with Sheikh School achieving the best mean score of 9.11 points.
