The 2023 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) results will officially be released by Thursday this week at Mtihani House in Nairobi.
A source close to the Council has revealed that the candidates will know their fate in the exams this week as everything is now set for public release.
He says there is paradigm shift this time round on how the administration, marking and release of the exams are done. He hinted that KCSE exams is what is delaying the results.
Initially top Ministry official has said the results will be released on 30th November. However our source says the relese of the results will catch many by surprise.
Marking of English Composition and Kiswahili Insha is what mostly derail early release of the exams. However this exercise ended last week.
On Saturday evening KNEC CEO, Dr David Njengere presided over the closing ceremony for KCPE English Composition and Kiswahili Insha marking exercise at St. George’s Girls Secondary School, Nairobi,.
Dr Njengere commended the teachers (examiners) involved in the marking exercise for the great work in steering KCPE exam since its inception to this moment of transition to the CBC curriculum.
“You, teachers, are the real heroes of the 8-4-4 system and we appreciate you. We now urge and depend on you to similarly run CBC assessment successfully,” he said.
At least 1,415,315 candidates sat for the KCPE exams while a total of 1,282,574 candidates sat for their Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA).
The KCPE and KPSEA exams began on October 30, 2023, and were completed on November 1, 2023.
KCPE candidates did Mathematics, English, English Composition, Kiswahili, Kiswahili Insha, Science and Social Studies.
In 2022 top KCPE candidate scored 431 marks. It was Otieno Lewis Omondi of St. Peters Mumias Boys Primary School. The number of candidates who scored different marks were as follows;
(400 and above) – 9,443
300-399 -(307,756)
200-299 (619,593)
100-199 (296,336)
1-99 (724)
Total
1,233,852
The marking of the Insha and Composition papers were done manually by examiners.
However the marking of multiple-choice questions (transcripts) was done by the modern Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) which electronically scores the papers.
The OMR captures marked data from candidates’ answer sheets using specialised scanning.
The machines work with a dedicated scanning device that shines a beam of light on the paper.
The contrasting reflection at predetermined positions on a page is used to detect marked areas as they reflect less light than the blank areas of the paper.
With the new machines, scripts are marked in batches of 100 and 200 sheets, unlike the previous technology, which took hours.
Basic Education Dr Belio Kipsang, had said that marking of the KCPE results will be completed early and results released soonest possible.
Speaking after visiting Naivasha Girls Secondary School to check on KCSE exams, the PS lauded headteachers for the work they had done during the national exams.
“We expect the results out early so that placement of students in form one can be done before Christmas so that parents have ample time to prepare,” he said.
More priority will be given to KCPE exams. Parents will know what their Grade 6 pupils did in KPSEA in January when schools reopen.
They will get the results in a certificate form issued by headteachers in schools. The Grade 6 will transition to junior secondary at Grade 7 next year.