21 counties that didn’t post grade A in KCSE exam

Twenty one counties did not have any candidate with a mean grade of A in this year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination.

This is an improvement from last year, when 28 counties failed to record the top grade.

According to an analysis by The Standard of the schools that posted grade A, 26 counties made it to this year’s chart.

It (analysis) shows an increment in the number of candidates who scored the top grade, which was 315 this year up from 142 last year.

As expected, the counties with the traditional top performing schools filled the top ranks.

With 82 As, Kiambu had the highest number, followed by Nairobi (60) and Nakuru 36.

Collectively, the three counties accounted for more than half of the candidates who scored straight As.

Best overall

In the schools category, although Strathmore School in Nairobi had only three candidates posting A grade, the school emerged the best overall.

Last year, Kiambu produced 34 As.

Busia, Garissa, Isiolo, Kajiado, Taita Taveta and Turkana are among the 26 counties that failed to record an A.

They never recorded the top grade even last year.

Nandi, Siaya, Nyeri, Meru, Vihiga, Kisii, Kirinyaga, Elgeyo Marakwet, Kisumu, Muranga are among counties that posted As.

Analysis of data from schools performance shows that Alliance High School produced the highest number of students who scored the top grade.

Of the 399 candidates who sat the examination at the school, some 35 candidates managed a straight A.

Pangani Girls that produced the top candidate nationally only managed four A’s.

The school had a total of 295 candidates and posted a performance index of 63.45.

Moi High School Kabarak, which had 330 candidates, emerged second with 28 students scoring an A.

The school also posted a performance index of 72.12.

Kapsabet Boys, with total candidature of 332, produced 26 followed by Alliance Girls and Mangu High School with 21 and 16 As respectively.

Alliance Girls had a total of 396 candidates sit the national examination with another 330 students in Mangu.

The two schools posted a performance index of 69.48 and 69.11 respectively.

These nine schools emerged in the short list of top five institutions that produced more than 20 A’s.

Interestingly, Strathmore School, which was ranked top nationally with a performance index of 72.28, only produced three As.

The school had a total of 84 candidates.

Moi Tea Girls Secondary School, which was ranked third nationally, only produced three As.

The school together with Moi High School Kabarak, Alliance girls, Alliance high schools and Mangu were listed best six schools nationally based on their overall performance.

Maranda High School, which emerged position 30 nationally, and Moi Girls High School Eldoret that was ranked position 11 nationally each produced 13 As.

The Kenya High School, ranked position 10 nationally, scooped 11 As while Maseno ranked 24 nationally produced 10 As to close the short list of nine schools that posted the highest grade.

Of these, eight are public schools with only Kabarak representing the private schools.

Other results show that Moi Girls Nairobi, Light Academy, and Lenana School each had six As, with Loreto High School (Limuru) producing five.

Starehe Boys Centre and Precious Blood Riruta each produced four As.

Nairobi School, Buruburu Girls, Homa Bay High, Friends School Kamusinga, Agoro Sare High School, Sacho High each managed three As.

A total of 16 schools produced two As each with 36 managing one each.

Releasing the results, Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed termed the results a major improvement from last year.

University qualification

“The number of candidates attaining the highest overall mean grade (A) in the KCSE examination rose from 142 in 2017 to 315 in the 2018 KCSE examination,” Amina said.

Data released by Kenya National Examinations Council show a total of 3,417 candidates scored A– (minus), 8,268 managed B+ and 16,403 scored B plain.

Another 26,156 candidates attained B– with some 35,818 scoring C+.

“Overall, the number of candidates with minimum university entry qualification of grade C+ and above is 90,377 compared to 70,073 in the 2017 KCSE examination,” Amina said.

And for candidates with special needs, some 1,499 sat the 2018 KCSE compared to 1,407 in 2017.

Three of the students scored A–, six managed B+, eight scored B and 35 got B–.

Amina announced that another 36 candidates with special needs scored C+.

Some 660,204 candidates sat the 2018 KCSE examination. Of these, 338,628 were male and 321,576 female.

Amina announced that some 18 counties registered more female than male candidates in this year’s KCSE examination compared to 17 counties last year.

These were Taita Taveta, Kwale, Nyandarua, Kirinyaga, Murang’a, Kiambu, Machakos, Kitui, Meru, Makueni, Tharaka Nithi, Uasin Gishu, Nandi, Laikipia, Elgeyo Marakwet, Kakamega, Vihiga and Kisumu.

21 counties that didn’t post grade A in KCSE exam

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21 counties that didn’t post grade A in KCSE exam

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