NAIROBI, Kenya — The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has defended the performance of sub-county schools in the 2025 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), saying comparisons with national schools ignore critical entry-level disparities.
Speaking on Tuesday, January 20, during a panel discussion on Citizen TV, KNEC Chief Executive Officer David Njengere said analysis of KCSE results must consider learners’ academic profiles at the time of admission into secondary school.
Njengere argued that judging sub-county schools purely on final examination outcomes without factoring in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) entry marks presents a distorted picture of performance.
“From a statistical perspective, it would not be fair to examine the results at the sub-county level without considering the entry behaviour of these learners in Form One,” Njengere said.
He explained that the education system effectively sorts learners long before they sit KCSE, with high-performing KCPE candidates overwhelmingly placed in national schools.
“Learners who score 400 marks and above in KCPE almost always end up in national schools. Those who join sub-county schools are mostly those with 200 marks and below,” he said.
According to Njengere, the wide gap in academic preparedness makes it unrealistic to expect sub-county schools to match the KCSE outcomes of national schools after only four years of instruction.
“It is therefore not possible to expect that, at the end of four years, sub-county schools can post comparable results with national schools,” he added.
Despite the challenges, the KNEC CEO said data from the 2025 KCSE examination points to gradual improvement within sub-county schools.
He noted that approximately 13pc of candidates from sub-county schools attained a grade of C+ and above, the minimum qualification for direct university entry.
“When you look at the statistics, they tell you that if you can get 13 per cent of learners in sub-county schools getting C+ and above, that is an indication that with more resources, there is no reason why a child should fail,” Njengere said.
His remarks come amid public debate over persistent low performance in sub-county schools, where many candidates continue to record mean grades of C and D. Education stakeholders have raised concerns about teacher shortages, limited infrastructure, and inadequate learning resources in these institutions.
According to the official 2025 KCSE results, 993,226 candidates sat the examination nationwide. Of these, 1,932 candidates attained an overall mean grade of A (plain).
A total of 270,715 candidates scored C+ and above, qualifying for direct university admission. Meanwhile, 507,131 candidates attained C- and above, while 634,082 candidates scored D+ and above, an increase from 605,774 candidates in 2024.
The Ministry of Education has previously acknowledged disparities in funding, staffing and facilities across school categories, with ongoing reforms aimed at improving equity and learning outcomes nationwide.
