NAIROBI, August 29 – More than sixty five thousand students who passed last year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations will miss out on public university admissions.
This is after the Joint Admission Board announced Friday that only students who attained a grade of B with 66 points and above will get the government sponsored positions.
Though all those who score a grade of C+ and above qualify. The cut-off point is determined by both the overall performance in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education and the availability of places in the six public universities.
In a statement, JAB Chairman Professor George Magoha, however said female students who scored a minimum of 64 points will also be admitted, under the board’s criteria of gender parity.
“This will result to a total admission of approximately 17,000 KCSE students,” he said.
Candidates who meet this criterion will be given an opportunity to revise their degree choices in their respective provisional centers between 8th and 13th September.
The cut-off point is determined by both the overall performance in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education and the availability of places in the six public universities.
More than 80,000 candidates had scored above C+, the minimum requirement for university education.
In 2003, the cut-off was fixed at grade B with 64 points, up from 62 points in 2002. The trend has been to move up the notch, as performance in the KCSE examination improves and university facilities remain stretched.
Thousands of students miss out on the admission every year, which is widely pegged on the bed capacity and lecture rooms.
Until 2003, public universities admitted 12,000 students annually.
About The Author
