Students score poorly in varsity entry exams

Results of last year's Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations have been released by the Ministry of Education.

Maugo Nyauma Mark of Alliance Boys' High School is the overall top student. Kenya High's Mukhongo Nanyama Velma is top girl at position four overall, and the only one in the top ten category.

For the first time, schools’ performance has not been ranked.

The results have been posted on the Kenya National Examination Council's website www.examscouncil.or.ke.

Announcing the results on Tuesday, Education Minister Prof Sam Ongeri expressed concern over the general decline in performance.

He attributed this to last year's post-election violence and the subsequent students' unrest that hit many schools in the country.

"Peace is an expensive commodity," the minister said "..it creates a conducive environment for students to do well."

He said performance was affected by the many schools that were razed to the ground during the post-election violence and the displacement of students during the crisis. He however, said that the Government had made sure all the displaced students had been registered for the exams.

Irregularities

Prof Ongeri said cases of irregularities had reduced from the previous year's 1879 to 1419 cases. He added that most of the irregularities involved the use of mobile phones in examination rooms, which is banned.

The minister said it was sad that some teachers assisted students to acquire mobile phones for use in the examinations.

The 2008 KCSE examinations were the first to be conducted under the free secondary education system.

Overall Top 10 Positions of Candidates