Students anticipate KCSE results release next week
Students anticipate KCSE results release next week
Students anticipate KCSE results release next week
The results of the highly awaited Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam for 2023 will be released next week, much to the delight of thousands of students who took the test.In late December, Ezekiel Machogu, the cabinet secretary for education, confirmed the schedule and said that the 903,260 applicants’ outcomes will be known “by the second week of January.”The results were announced on January 20 of the previous year.
The results of the 2023 KCSE are especially significant since they align with the introduction of a new grading scheme designed to increase university admissions. The new structure, which was unveiled in August, drops the requirement from five subjects to just two in order to determine the candidate’s final score.
Under the new grading scheme, mathematics and any language (English, Kiswahili, or National Sign Language) will be required subjects. These days, students must take mathematics and one of the following three languages: English, Kiswahili, or Kenya Sign Language. The remaining five subjects with the highest grades will be used to determine the remaining marks.
The modifications are intended to raise the bar for university admission and are a part of the proposals made by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms.The five required subjects under the former grading scheme were English, math, Kiswahili, two sciences, and two other topics.
This change is the result of worries that students who excelled in courses outside of the required cluster were not given preference under the prior method. “Some learners are disadvantaged by the current system,” Machogu clarified. “We are doing this to allow learners to explore subjects they are good at.”Under the new funding model, the candidates will also be the second group of students admitted to universities, colleges, and other higher education institutions.
Instead of categories, students will now be grouped into bands and all learners will now be required to share the cost of tuition fees with the government.In the reviewed formula, all students listed in the five bands will get a boom of between Sh40,000 to Sh60,000, graduated based on households.
They will also pay between 5 per cent and 40 per cent of the fees.Under the revised system, students in band one (previously ‘vulnerable’) will get 70 per cent of scholarships and 25 per cent for loans. Parents in these households will now pay five per cent of the fees.
Additionally, students will receive Sh60,000 for upkeep. In band two (previously ‘extremely needy’), students will receive 60 per cent scholarships and 30 per cent loans. Parents will contribute 10 per cent of the costs, and the government will allocate Sh55,000 to each student for upkeep. Band three (previously ‘needy’) students will receive 50 per cent scholarships and 30 per cent loans, with parents covering 20 per cent of the costs. Students in this group will receive Sh50,000 for upkeep.
Households will bear 40% of the fees, with 30% going for scholarships and another 30% going toward loans for the recently introduced band five. For maintenance, students in this group will earn Sh40,000. Concerns regarding the long-term viability of the original funding mechanism prompted the changes. There may be some hope for a better educational future for Kenyan youngsters with the implementation of the new grading system and the altered funding paradigm.
