PRESS STATEMENT ON THE RELEASE OF THE KCPE EXAMINATION RESULTS BY CS MACHOGU

PRESS STATEMENT ON THE RELEASE OF THE
2022 KCPE EXAMINATION RESULTS BY HON
EZEKIEL MACHOGU, CBS, CABINET SECRETARY,
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, ON DECEMBER 21,
2022 AT KNEC OFFICES, DENIS PRITT ROAD,
NAIROBI

CS MACHOGU SPEECH KCPE-2022 RESULTS RELEASE-FINAL
” Principal Secretaries at the Ministry of Education: Dr.
Belio Kipsang, Dr. Esther Muhoria and Beatrice
Inyangala;
Chairman of the Education Committee of the National
Assembly Hon. Julius Melly;
Chairman of the Education Committee of the Senate
Hon. Joe Nyutu;
Chairperson, Kenya National Examinations Council,
Prof. Julius Nyabundi;
Chairman, TSC Dr Jamleck Muturi;
Chief Executive Officer, Teachers Service Commission,
Dr. Nancy Macharia;

Chief Executive Officer, Kenya National Examinations
Council, Dr. David Njengere;
KNEC Council Members;
Senior Officers from the Ministry of Education;
Representatives from Teachers’ Unions: KNUT and
KUPPET, the Kenya Private Schools Association, the
Kenya National Parents and Teachers Associations and
the Heads of Associations for primary and secondary;
Members of the Media Fraternity;
Ladies and Gentlemen;

I am today standing before you to make perhaps my most
significant address to the nation since His Excellency
President William Ruto appointed me Cabinet Secretary for
Education nearly two months ago. Over these two months,
I have taken time to personally consult widely over the
status of our education sector, which is arguably one that
attracts interests from every household. For in every home,
there is a child.
More importantly, my appointment immediately threw me
to the deep of the sector, with the national examinations
season lurking, and the need to clear the muddle that was
the Grade Six cohort’s transition to Junior Secondary school
under the Competency Based Curriculum.
By good fortune, the Head of State – in keeping with his
promise as outlined in the Education Charter of Kenya
Kwanza’s manifesto – stepped in with a brilliant decision to
appoint the Presidential Working Party on Education
Reforms. By dint of the team’s preliminary report, the
President has already directed that the Junior Secondary
school be domiciled in the existing primary schools.
What did this master stroke decision of our President mean?
It means that parents will now not lose sleep over finding
Grade Seven places in secondary schools, which could have
become their worst headache ever had President Ruto not
saved the situation.
Secondly, domiciling the Junior Secondary within the
primary school level means that the expected crisis of a
double intake in our already congested high schools was
averted.
Lastly, it means that the newly constructed classes in
secondary schools that were initially meant for the Junior
Secondary school level are now available to ease our
strained infrastructure in secondary schools. We therefore
expect to have a relatively peaceful path to the achievement
of the 100 per cent transition policy of government during
the Form One admission next year.
Focus of Ministry of Education Administration
Amid the smooth administration of the national
examinations for 2022, I have – together with my top
administration – subjected the sector into a quick baseline
analysis with a view to finding an anchor upon which the
new Government can roll in its interventions. Based on this
analysis, we have realised that, for us to raise the sector
performance a notch higher, we must anchor our
management on the following:
(a) Robust stakeholder consultations – As a
Ministry, and working with key agencies, we will
walk together with all sector players while
embracing regular consultations and public
participation in line with our Constitution. In this, we
will take a cue from the example already set through
the Presidential Working Party on Education
Reforms, which has combed every part of our
country to collect views from all Kenyans.
(b) Ensuring staff and technical Officers work
with formidable team work – We will redouble
efforts to motivate our staff of the Ministry of
Education for them to deliver service to Kenyans in
one spirit. I promise to work with all stakeholders to
ensure staff deployments, recognition and
promotions are strictly based on merit and are
carried out in strict conformity with Chapter 10 on
Values and Principles of the Constitution. I am alive
to the fact that regardless of how smart our policies
will be, they will always be doomed to failure unless
our implementing staff are motivated to work well,
since they sit at the execution desks, and closer to
the consumers of our services.
(c) Focused reform of policies and regulations
We are looking to the Presidential Working Party to make
recommendations about laws, policies and regulations in
our sector. We have seen a number of attempts to amend
some of the existing laws, policies and regulations, a few of
which are currently pending before the National Assembly.
Under my stewardship of the sector, we will carefully
consult with all stakeholders with a view to driving the
reform processes to a decisive and logical conclusion based

on recommendations of the Working Party. We will appeal
on the respective committees of the National Assembly and
the Senate to be patient with us as we will regularly knock
on their doors as we seek these legal and policy reforms.
Inevitably, many of the expected reforms will stem from the
recommendations of the Presidential Working Party when it
completes its work early next year.

MULTI-SECTORAL AGENCY IN EXAMINATIONS
MONITORING
This being my inaugural function for the release of KCPE
Examination results, I feel elated that we have successfully
administered two national examinations concurrently at the
primary school level and results for the KCPE examination
are ready within a period of 20 days.
I wish to thank His Excellency the President, Dr. William
Ruto for his leadership and support during the conduct of
the 2022 KCPE examination. The President led the multiagency team and the Cabinet Secretaries in monitoring of the administration of KCPE examination where they visited
examination centres and exhibited support for the
candidates. My Cabinet colleagues braced the morning cold
to be at examination containers in solidarity with the
contracted personnel, a proof that the current
administration is determined to maintain credible national
examinations. I also thank our teachers for their
instrumental role in the preparation of our candidates and
the participation in the administration of the 2022 KCPE
Examination.
I applaud the Centre Managers, Supervisors, Invigilators,
Examiners, Sub-County Directors of Education, Deputy
County Commissioners and Security Officers who played
exemplary roles in helping us deliver a credible examination.
JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL TRANSITION
In his recent directive on the domiciling of Grade 6, 7 and
8, His Excellency President William Ruto ordered the
Ministry of Education to provide further guidelines on the
transition.
Following this directive, I formed a multi-agency committee
to draft guidelines that will guide the transition. Specifically,
the committee is expected to draft guidelines that will
effectively:
a. Ensure a seamless transition from primary school
Grade 6 to Junior Secondary School.
b. Facilitate effective leadership and management of
Junior Secondary School.
c. Promote consistency in the implementation of the
Junior Secondary School curriculum including teaching
and learning, and assessment.
d. Ensure the provision of adequate, appropriate and safe
physical infrastructure and a learner-friendly
environment for all learners including those with
Special Needs and Disabilities.
e. Ensure the provision of adequate and well prepared
human resources to facilitate curriculum delivery for
Junior Secondary School.
f. Outline the roles and responsibilities of key
stakeholders in the implementation of the various
components of Junior Secondary School.
I expect to hold a meeting with all stakeholders on January
3 rd 2023 to consider and release the guidelines so they can
provide a roadmap to all players as they prepare for the
Junior Secondary School.
Already, the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development has
released the Grade 7 Curriculum Designs and instructional
materials for use at the Junior Secondary School level
KENYA PRIMARY SCHOOL EDUCATION
ASSESSMENT
Arising from the Presidential directive, and cascaded to the
Kenya National Examinations Council by myself, the Kenya
Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) will not be
used for placement of the learners in Junior Secondary
School. The KPSEA Report will however be part of the
process of monitoring of learner progress.
I have directed the Kenya National Examinations Council to
upload the report of the assessment on the school portals
in January 2023 to enable schools to develop strategies of
further teaching and learning.
THE 100 PER CENT TRANSITION POLICY
As is the Government tradition, all the candidates whose
results I am releasing today will be admitted to Form One
under the 100 per cent transition policy. There should be no
case of any parent or guardian keeping their children at
home when admissions to Form One are opened up as this
is against the Constitutional requirement.
ACADEMIC CALENDAR FOR 2023
Since the country experienced the COVID-19 pandemic,
which occasioned a prolonged closure of schools, the
Government has been running a heavily constricted and
reorganised school calendar in a spirited attempt to restore
the normal term dates.

This reorganisation of school term dates has come at a
heavy cost to parents in terms of pressure to clear school
fees within short intervals; teachers having heavy
workloads, while learners have had to cover more content
within extremely short time.
I wish to particularly single out the 2022 KCPE cohort whose
examination results we are releasing today. When COVID19 hit our country in March 2020, the cohort was in
Standard Six, and only resumed their classes upon the full
reopening of schools in January 2021. Between January
2021 and November 2022 (just 23 months) this cohort has

managed to cover three school calendar years. This is
astonishingly incredible. In fact, the cohort covered their
Grade 8 school calendar in just six months, having joined in
June 2022.
In between, the country went into a General Election that
also occasioned an unnecessarily long half term break,
besides the confusion and anxiety associated with such a
national exercise.
Please join me in celebrating our 2022 cohort of KCPE,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

I wish to thank all the stakeholders, especially parents and
teachers, for withstanding the financial and teaching
pressures respectively that came with the shorter school
terms as forced upon us by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thanks to all your concerted efforts, we will from January
2023 revert to our normal school calendar.
FORM ONE SELECTION EXERCISE
The Ministry is determined to place the 2022 KCPE
candidates in secondary schools as soon as possible to give
parents adequate time to prepare them for the admissions
to Form One. The actual Form One selection exercise for all
categories of schools will be concluded on January 16th,
2023.
CANDIDATURE DETAILS FOR THE 2022 KCPE
A total of 1,233,852 candidates sat the 2022 KCPE
Examination in 28,408 centres across the country. These
candidates will be allowed to start their secondary school
journey as they have all qualified to be admitted to Form
One. Congratulations to the class of 2022 for your spirited
academic campaign that defied the triple challenge of a
general election, COVID-19 and shortened school calendars.
Of these candidates, 620,965 (50.32%) were boys while
612,887 (49.67%) girls, a clear indication that our
country has achieved gender parity at primary school level.
In the 2021 KCPE, 1,214,031 candidates sat the
examination.
According to the data, four counties had a significant entry
of more male than female candidates. These were Turkana,
Garissa, Wajir and Mandera.
On the other hand, Marsabit, Isiolo and Meru had a
significant entry of more female than male candidates in the
Examination.
The number of candidates who sat the Examination in
hospitals in 2022 was 147 compared with 166 in 2021. All
these candidates will also progress to Form One.
CANDIDATES’ AGE PROFILES
The number of registered candidates who were 12 years
and below declined from 33,627 (2.74%) in 2021 to
31,498 (2.53%) in 2022 indicating that parents and
schools are on the right path of enrolling children in school
at the right age.
The counties which had the highest percentage entry for
candidates who were 12 years and below for the year 2022
KCPE Examination were: Baringo, Wajir, Kericho, Bomet,
West Pokot,
The highest number of candidates were in the appropriate
age bracket of 13-15 years, (885,162; 71.13%), a
trend that has been replicated in the last five years.
The counties which had the highest percentage of
candidates who were 18 years and above were Garissa,
Turkana, Kilifi, Kwale and Mandera.
PERFORMANCE OF CANDIDATES
In the 2022 KCPE Examination, overall performance
improved compared to 2021 despite the difficult situation
that faced this cohort of candidates. The mark of the highest
candidate rose four points from 428 in 2021 to 431 in
2022.
Another positive indicator of better candidates’ performance
was in the mean average performance. The data analysis
shows that more than half of all the candidates who sat the
examination (619,583 or 50.22 per cent) scored
between 200 and 299 marks as compared with 578,106 or
47.17 per cent who scored between the same marks in
2021. We are therefore very impressed with the KCPE
Examination class of 2022 for performing very well and
raising the standards of the mean performance.
Additionally, whereas 1,170 candidates scored between 01
and 99 marks in the 2021 KCPE Examination, that number
has gone down to only 724 in the 2022 Examination despite
the rise in overall candidature in the two years. This was an
indicator that most candidates scored better grades than
the previous year.
In particular, I am impressed that 39 candidates with special
needs scored 400 marks and above compared with only two
in 2021. The first candidate with special needs scored 419
marks more than the top candidate in 2021 who scored 417.

PERFORMANCE PER SUBJECT
Overall, we have been impressed that four papers recorded
an improvement in performance in the year 2022 when
compared to 2021. These are: English Language,
Kiswahili Lugha, Kiswahili Insha and Kenyan Sign
Language.
However, six papers, English Composition, Kenyan
Sign Language Composition, Mathematics, Science,
Social Studies, and Religious Education recorded a drop
in performance in 2022 compared with 2021.

Female candidates performed better than their male
counterparts in English, Kiswahili and Kenyan Sign
Language.
Male candidates performed better than their female
counterparts in Mathematics, Science and Social
Studies and Religious Education.
I wish to direct the Quality Assurance and Standards to find
ways of addressing the gaps that might be causing the
performance of either gender as there seems to be a pattern
where girls beat boys in specific subjects each year and vice
32
versa. Nonetheless, I thank the teachers, parents and
candidates for achieving this astounding performance as the
country emerges from the COVID-19 and the effects of the
General Election.

The summary of grades is as follows:
Mark Range
KCPE 2022
Number Percentage
400 – 500 9,443 0.77%
300 – 399 307,756 24.94%
200 – 299 619,593 50.22%
100 – 199 296,336 24.02%
001 – 099 724 0.06%
Number Sat 1,233,852 99.16%
Highest mark
(out of 500) 431

The overall performance for Special Needs candidates is as
follows:
Mark Range
KCPE 2022
Number Percentage
400 – 500 7 0.29%
300 – 399 296 12.25%
200 – 299 838 34.67%
100 – 199 1,270 52.54%
001 – 099 6 0.25%
Number Sat 2,417 98.01%
Highest mark (out
of 500) 419

EXAMINATION MALPRACTICES
The combined efforts of the Multi-Agency Examinations
Team of the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Interior and
National Administration, ICT and Digital Economy and the
Teachers Service Commission helped to ensure the 2022
KCPE Examination was free of malpractices. Overall, there
were only 252 candidates in nine examination centres who
were found to have engaged in malpractices. These
candidates have been scored zero (0) in the subjects where
they engaged in malpractices. Nonetheless, the affected
candidates’ overall mark will be computed less the mark
awarded in the affected subject. The candidate will receive

their examination results and will transition to secondary
school. This is in the spirit of the 100 per cent transition
policy.
ACCESSING THE 2022 KCPE EXAMINATION
RESULTS
As is our tradition, the KCPE Examination results will be
collected by respective schools from the Sub County
Education offices. Candidates should therefore collect their
results from their respective examination centres. Individual
candidates’ results can also be accessed by sending a
candidate’s index number followed by the initials KCPE

through a Short Message Service (SMS) to 20076. This
service will be available immediately after this event.
Head teachers will be required to download and print the
on-line results slips for candidates in their schools and
authenticate the same before they are released to parents,
guardians or candidates.

It is now my pleasure to declare the 2022 KCPE Examination
results officially released. I wish all the candidates and
indeed all stakeholders in the education sector a Merry
Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous 2023.
HON EZEKIEL MACHOGU, CBS
CABINET SECRETARY,
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
Wednesday, 21st December, 2022