At least 121,391 candidates who scored C+ (plus) and above in last year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam had applied for courses as of February 25.
Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu said yesterday that this accounts for 60.8 per cent of the 199,695 candidates who scored a mean grade of C+ and above in the exam.
The CS asked the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement (KUCCPS) to further extend the application deadline to March 4 to ensure that all targeted students apply.
“KUCCPS opened its application portal on February 7 to allow the 2023 KCSE class and other eligible Kenyans to apply for opportunities in higher learning institutions. The initial application deadline of February 22 was pushed to February 26. Over this period, the Ministry of Education has been monitoring the process to ensure all targeted applicants have a fair, efficient and effective opportunity to apply for their desired courses,” said the CS.
Based on the application trend of the 2022 KCSE candidates, Machogu said, it is projected that 86 per cent of candidates with C+ and above, about 171,738, will apply for placement.
The remaining 14 per cent, he said, are expected to seek opportunities in non-participating universities, Module II programmes or institutions of higher learning in other countries.
TVET option
This means that as of February 25, some 70 per cent of all the targeted applicants with C+ and above had applied for placement.
“Further to the extension notice issued by KUCCPS on February 25 and to ensure that all the remaining applicants get a chance to submit their choices both to universities and colleges, the Ministry of Education has instructed the placement agency to extend the deadline for seven more days, until March 4,” Machogu directed.
He also urged all students who scored mean grades of between C and E to take advantage of the ongoing applications to select their desired diploma, craft certificate or artisan programmes offered in our TVET institutions.
“This category of students has the advantage of walking into their preferred Ministry of Education TVET institutions to be assisted with the application process. The ministry has taken note of the challenges that some students have faced in the ongoing application process,” the CS said.
