• Data from the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) indicates an imbalance in academic performance. The highest grades, A and A-, were achieved by only a small fraction of students: just 1,693 (0.18%) managed to earn an A, while 7,743 (0.80%) received an A-.

On January 9, 2025, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Julius Ogamba, announced the release of the 2024 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results. As much as students joining university have increased as compared to 2023, there is still a significant number who are scoring lower grades.

A total of 246391 students scored a mean grade of C+ and above, which is an increase from 201133 in 2023.

Data from the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) indicates an imbalance in academic performance. The highest grades, A and A-, were achieved by only a small fraction of students: just 1,693 (0.18%) managed to earn an A, while 7,743 (0.80%) received an A-.

A closer look at the grade distribution shows a grim picture: as we move down the scale, the number of students achieving passing grades increases significantly. For instance, 19,150 students (1.98%) received a B+, 43,120 students (4.47%) earned a B, and 75,347 students (7.81%) scored a B-.

The trend continues with students scoring between C+ and C-: 99,338 students (10.29%) received a C+, 111,717 students (11.57%) earned a C, and 118,781 students (12.31%) scored a C-.

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The most alarming statistics emerge from the lower grades, where a majority of candidates fell into the D and E categories: 128,885 students (13.35%) scored D+, 153,334 students (15.70%) received a D, 151,487 students (15.70%) earned a D-, and 48,333 students (5.01%) attained an E. Out of 965,501 candidates who registered for the exam, 965,172 sat for it, marking a 7.19% increase from 2023.

Alongside concerns about academic performance, technical issues plagued the release of the examination results. KNEC cited a high volume of requests—up to 300,000 hits per second, leading to delays in accessing results.

“The portal for checking the 2024 KCSE examination results is fully functional and candidates are receiving their results. The minor delays in receiving feedback is due to the high number of requests being sent to the portal, of up to 300,000 hits per second. We urge Kenyans to be patient and assure them that everyone will be able to access their results,” KNEC stated via a post on social media platform X.

Despite these assurances, public frustration was palpable, with many Kenyans taking to social media to express their dissatisfaction. Comments like those from @kachwanya, who urged for an increase in system capacity, and @channelyakele, who suggested using cloud services to manage the load, highlighted the urgency of addressing these technological shortcomings.

Other comments raised on X include:

@JosephMasta_

It's good that you've restored it.


@ytheraanne

This portal is not opening it's giving an error and saying the page is not available.

Kindly work on it or give us an SMS code so that we get the results.