Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi says this represented a 30.8 percent of candidates who sat the exams compared to 27.5 last year/FILE
This represents 30.8 percent of the 483,620 candidates who sat the exams, an 8.3 percent increase compared to the 2013 KCSE examination results.
Out of the 149,717, some 59 percent were male candidates and the rest female.
“But even if you got an E,” Education, Science and Technology Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi sought to assure, there would be options given the government investment in technical training institutes.
“We already have 78 and are setting up 60 more in the constituencies that don’t have them. Why should we only have qualified technicians in the urban centres?” he posed.
Of the 3,073 who attained A’s, 69.4 percent were male and 30.6 percent female, an improvement against 2013 when 29.79 percent of those who attained an A were girls.
READ: Kingori tops as boys shine in KCSE 2013
There was also an increase in the number of girls who sat the KCSE examinations in 2014 compared to 2013 with recorded increments of 10.3 percent and 6.6 percent respectively.
Eight counties registered more female candidates than male in 2014 and they are: Taita Taveta, Nyandarua, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Kiambu, Meru and Tharaka Nithi.
But Garissa and Mandera registered the lowest number of female candidates who made up 28 and 29 percent respectively of their total number of KCSE examination candidates in 2014.
The increase in the overall number of candidates who sat the exams in 2014 was the highest of the last three years, with 8.3 percent more candidates sitting the exams compared to 2013.
An increase Kaimenyi attributed to the fact that the 2014 candidates were the first beneficiaries of Free Primary Education (FPE).
Even more candidates are expected to be registered in 2015 following the government commitment to pay the KCSE and Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination fees.
Again, overall subject performance improved by one compared to 2013 when there was improvement in 14 out of a total of 31 subjects examined.
Girls “as has become customary,” Kaimenyi said, performed best in the languages of English and Kiswahili while boys performed best in Math and the sciences.
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