By Roy Hezron
The 2020 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) candidates registering commendable results despite the challenging period they had to endure due to disruption of learning caused by Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking during the release of the examination results at Kenya National Examination Council’s headquarters in Nairobi yesterday, Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha commended the candidates for the exemplary performance.
“Indeed, as we traversed the country during the monitoring exercise of the examination, we came face to face with confident and cheerful students who appeared to have been prepared well. This wonderful class has defied all the challenges they went through last year to post impressive results in their KCPE examinations,” said Prof. Magoha.
According to the results analysis released yesterday, majority of the candidates scored between 300 to 399 marks with 282,090 candidates representing 23.67 per cent which was an increase of 39,269 candidates who scored same mark range in 2019, who were 242,821 candidates in total which represents 22.30 per cent.
However, a number of candidates who scored between 400 to 500 marks dropped by 1,582 candidates, whereby a total of 8, 091 candidates in 2020 KCPE scored 400-500 marks which represents 0.68 per cent as compared to 2019 where 9,673 candidates representing 0.89 per cent scored the same mark range.
On the other hand, the total number of candidates’ who scored between 001-099 dropped by 1,086 candidates from 1,393 candidates representing 0.13 per cent in 2019 to 307 candidates in 2020 which represents 0.03 per cent.
“I wish to commend the teachers for utilizing the assessment results to prepare the candidates ahead of the examinations, a move that has led to the impressive results that we are celebrating today,” noted Prof. Magoha.
In terms of gender, female candidates performed slightly better than their male counterparts in English, Kiswahili and Kenyan Sign Language, while the Male candidates performed slightly better than their female counterparts in Mathematics, Science and Social Studies and Religious Education.
A total of 1,191,616 candidates had registered for the exam but 12,424 were absent during the examination period due to different circumstances.
According to the data, 20 counties registered more female than male candidates in the 2020 KCPE examinations which include Isiolo, Meru, Vihiga, Kakamega, Busia, Nairobi, Kwale, Elgeyo Marakwet, Siaya, Tharaka Nithi, Kisii, Kisumu, Bungoma, Kilifi, Lamu, Bomet, Mombasa, Uasin Gishu, Makueni and Migori; which was an increase from 18 counties that registered more female than male candidates in 2019.
