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More candidates have qualified for direct entry to universities in the country in the 2024 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams.

While releasing the results of the exams at Mitihani House in Nairobi on Thursday, January 9, 2025, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba stated that 2024 had recorded an increase on students who had attained grade C+ and above.

“The number of candidates with direct university entry qualification of grade C+ and above was 246,391 (25.53%) in the year 2024 28 KCSE examination compared to 201,133 (22.27%) in the 2023,” CS Ogamba observed.

This represented slightly more than a quarter of the 962,512 candidates who sat the exams between October and November 2024.

On December 23, CS Ogamba flagged a report which indicated that the government was planning to raise the university entry grade from C+ to B-.

The reports had circulated with just days before the conclusion of the marking of the exams, spreading anxiety to candidates who had just sat their last papers on November 22, 2024, and parents alike.

Entry to TVET diploma

Ogamba equally revealed that nearly half of all the candidates who sat the 2024 KCSE qualified for direct entry into TVET Diploma courses.

“The number of candidates with grade C- (TVET Diploma) and above was 476,889 (49.41%) in the year 2024 KCSE examination compared to 401,216 (44.42%) in 2023,” Ogamba noted.

Also, the number of candidates who attained a pass grade (grade D+ and above) was 605,774 (62.76%) in the year 2024 KCSE examination compared to 526,222 (58.27%) in 2023.

According to the results released by the Education Cabinet Secretary, 1,693 candidates scored A plain compared to 1,216 candidates who scored A plain in 2023.

High performers

Similarly, 9,436 candidates scored A- in 2024 compared to 7,254 candidates scoring the same grade in the 2023 KCSE exams.

19,150 candidates attained the grade B+ in the 2024 exam against 18,078 in the 2023 examinations. 43,120 candidates scored B plain compared to 36,728 in 2023.

The 2024 exams equally registered more candidates scoring grade E compared to the year 2023. In 2024, 48,333 candidates scored E compared to 48,174 in 2023.

840 candidates who were found to have been involved in examination irregularities got their results cancelled while another 2,829 candidates had their results withheld on suspicion of irregularity.

“The results of the 2,829 candidates suspected to have been involved in the examination irregularities have been withheld pending completion of investigations that should be completed within a period of 30 days from the official day of release of examination results,” CS Ogamba stated.