The 2024 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results revealed a troubling trend, with 353,154 candidates nearly a third of the 958,928 students scoring a mean grade of D plain and below. Of these, 48,333 candidates earned the lowest grade of E, a slight increase from the 48,174 recorded in 2023.
Despite this, there was an improvement in overall performance compared to 2023, which saw 369,311 candidates score D plain and below.
The distribution of the lowest grades highlighted gender disparities: 79,832 girls and 73,501 boys scored D plain, while D minus grades were more prevalent among boys, with 79,306, compared to 72,181 girls. Similarly, more boys (28,221) scored grade E compared to 20,112 girls.
Performance varied significantly by school type. National schools had the fewest E grades, with only 161, while Sub-County schools reported the highest number, at 40,369. Extra County schools posted 115 E grades, County schools 1,906, and private schools 5,782.
In stark contrast to the mass failures, 1,693 candidates achieved an A plain, an increase from 1,216 in 2023. National schools dominated this category, producing 81.22% (1,375) of the A grades. Extra County schools contributed 163, while County schools and private schools posted four and 142, respectively.
Gender disparities also persisted at the top. Boys continued to outshine girls, with 1,137 boys and 556 girls achieving A grades in 2014, compared to 825 boys and 391 girls in 2023. In 2024, the trend remained, as boys earned a majority of both A plains and A minus grades.
The results underscore a pressing challenge in Kenya’s education system: bridging the performance gap and addressing the quality of education in Sub-County schools. With over 350,000 candidates now ineligible for formal education training, technical institutions are expected to play a crucial role in absorbing these students into artisan and vocational courses.
The 2024 KCSE results highlight both successes in top-performing schools and the persistent inequalities that demand urgent reform.
