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Female candidates in the 2024 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams have outshined their male counterparts in all languages and a few other subjects.

In a statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education Julius Ogamba on Thursday, January 9, 2025, the females outperformed male candidates in English, Kiswahili, French, Kenya Sign Language (KSL), Home Science, CRE and Art & Design.

“Female candidates recorded better mean score performance than male candidates in the following seven subjects; English (101); Kiswahili (102); Kenyan Sign Language (504); French (501); Home Science (441); CRE (313); and Art & design (442),” Ogamba indicated.

However, the male candidates posted better mean performances in 23 of the subjects examined in 2024.

These were: Mathematics Alt. A & B, Biology 26 & Biology for the Blind, Physics, Chemistry, General Science, History & Government, Geography, IRE, Woodwork, Metal work, Building & Construction, Power Mechanics, Electricity, Drawing & Design, Aviation Technology, Agriculture, Computer Studies, German, Arabic, Music and Business Studies.

Drop in performance

In the 2024 KCSE exams, 10 subjects recorded a drop in performance; English, Kiswahili, Biology for the Blind, CRE, Home Science, Building Construction, Electricity, French, German and Music.

However, 17 subjects recorded a significant performance improvement. These subjects were Mathematics Alt. A & B, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, General Science, History & Government, Geography, IRE, Agriculture, Woodwork, Metalwork, Drawing & Design, Aviation Technology, Computer Studies, Kenyan Sign Language and Business Studies.

The 2024 KCSE examinations also recorded the first time when more female candidates were registered than their male counterparts.

According to the data released by Education CS Ogamba, 50.10 per cent of the total registered candidates were female compared to 49.90 per cent who were male.

More female candidates

This translated to a total of 482,202 candidates being female compared to 480,310 being male.

“14 counties had a significant entry of more female than male candidates: Vihiga (55.15%: 44.85%), Elgeyo Marakwet (53.76%: 46.24%), Kirinyaga (51.46%: 48.54%), Meru (51.69%: 48.31%), Kiambu (52.78%: 47.22%), Nairobi (52.41%: 47.59%), 22 Kisumu (52.39%: 47.61%), Kitui (51.14%: 48.86%), Taita Taveta (51.45%: 48.55%), Kwale (53.31%: 46.69%), Isiolo (52.11%: 47.89%), Tharaka Nithi (52.06%: 47.94%), Kakamega (51.80%: 48.20%) and Uasin Gishu (51.06%: 48.94),” CS Ogamba added.

Similarly, the number of candidates aged 16 and below increased from 16,040 (1.776%) in 2023 to 20,546 (2.129%) in 2024.

While the highest percentage of candidates registered for the 2024 KCSE examination were within the age bracket of between 17 to 19 years, constituting 684,765 (70.95%) of the total candidature, the percentage of candidates who were 20 years and above constituted 259,861 (22.07%).