How The Category Of A School Affects Your Kid’s KCSE Results

Your child can either pass or fail his/her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) depending on the category of the secondary school they attend. This is according to a Secondary School Survey released by Usawa Agenda.

The survey analyzed the status of Sub-County, County, Extra-County, National, and Private schools in Kenya and found that the mark attained in Primary School is not the main determinant of a learner’s success in high school.

Usawa Agenda Secondary School survey found that national schools in Kenya enjoy great privilege compared to the lowest ranked ones — sub-county schools both in staffing and funding.

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This disproportionate resource allocation based on the category of school one attends impacts their performance in KCSE examinations with more than one secondary school entry mark. The survey found out that attending a private school is associated with scoring 1.1 more points in KCSE and being in a special school is associated with 0.86 points less.

The survey further found that learners who attend secondary schools with trained medical personnel can score 0.38 more points, while those in a school where the principal has attended management training are associated with 0.5 points more.

“The highest ranked schools in Kenya — national schools enjoy great privilege compared to the lowest ranked ones — sub-county schools both in staffing and funding… In essence, sub-county schools offer the least opportunity to excel while the national schools offer the best opportunity to excel,” Usawa Agenda says in its findings.

It also found that women are under-represented in the management of schools both as principals and on boards of management chairs by a huge margin. “The findings of this survey point to many gaps that require urgent attention if we are to achieve any meaningful progress in realizing both SDG 4 and Kenya’s Vision 2030,” Usawa Agenda Executive Director Emmanuel Munyasa says.

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