Fred Matiang'i releases 2017 KCPE exam results in Nairobi

Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i has released this year’s Standard Eight national exam results, marked by an improved performance.

The top Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) candidate this year scored 455 marks, compared with last year's 437.

The number of candidates who scored more than 400 marks was at 9,846, up from 5,943 last year, the Cabinet secretary said.

Pupils who scored less than 100 marks reduced by over 4,000 candidates.

"If last year's top candidate was ranked, they would not even rank in the top 20," Dr Matiang'i noted while releasing the results at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) offices in Nairobi.

Dr Matiang'i said candidates with 400 marks from private and public exam centres will all join national schools.

He said public schools were back in contention in the exam performance, with the second best student coming from a public school.

Form One Selection

The release comes almost a month earlier than previous years after marking was fast-tracked by optical machines.

Form One selection will now be completed by December 4. Dr Matiang'i said admission letters would be accessible electronically once placement is done, as happened last year.

"We intend to complete Form One placement by Dec 4. The President said that by Jamhuri Day (December 12), all candidates should have been selected to join Form One , " he said.

Parents with candidates can send their children's index numbers to 22252 to access the results.

No irregularities

The Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) chairman George Magoha said the exam was free of malpractices.

"The results we're releasing to today are 99.99 per cent accurate due to the use of new scanners. There won't be any complaints," Prof Magoha said.

The 20 new scanning machines, bought by Knec at a cost of Sh90 million, replaced 20 old scanners bought more than 17 years ago.

Dr Matiang'i said for the first time, all examiners had been fully paid even before releasing the results.

The candidates sat the examination in 28,566 centres, which were managed under tight security.