The Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results are set to be announced at Moi Girls, Eldoret on Monday.
The 903,260 candidates who sat for the exams last December will know their fate on monday.
The 2023 KCSE results are especially significant because they align with the introduction of a new grading scheme designed to increase university admissions.
The redesigned 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.
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.
The newly introduced band five will receive scholarships of 30 per cent and another 30 per cent for loans, with households paying 40 per cent of the costs.
Students in this group will receive Sh40,000 for upkeep.
The adjustments were made amid concerns about the sustainability of the initial funding formula.
The new grading system, coupled with a change in the funding model could offer a glimmer of hope for a brighter educational future for Kenyan youth.
