Ministry of Education unveils the revised KCSE grading system

Nairobi, 

Monday, 25 September, 2023 

McCreadie Andias 

The Ministry of Education has today unveiled the new Kenya Certificate of Secondary education (KCSE) grading system for 2023 candidates. 

Speaking during the launch of the new examination season 2023 at the new Mtihani House in South - C, Nairobi, The CS announced that the changes in the grading system will be applied to all KCSE candidates in the future. 

According to CS Machogu, the changes are aimed at increasing the number of students who qualify for the tertiary education level.

"It is expected that the new reform measure will increase the number of students qualifying for universities, Diploma, and TVET training at Certificate and Artisan levels,” Said the CS.

Machogu said that only two subjects will be used in grading the exams. 

“In the new grading system that will be applied to the 2023 KCSE examination, the only two mandatory subjects will be Mathematics and one language either English, Kiswahili, or Kenyan Sign Language,” he said.

In addition to the two, examiners will be required to pick five of the best-performed subjects from each student.

In the previous years, five mandatory subjects, which are, Mathematics, English, Kiswahili, two sciences, and one humanity were used while grading a candidate.

The Ministry has unveiled new measures to take effect during the 2023 examination season moving foward which includes use of technology by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) to assess trained teachers electronically. 

The Ministry also announced that examination materials will be picked twice a day from the 576 examination storage and distribution centers.

Under the new Education system which has taken effect, a total of three national examinations will be administered among them being Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) for learners in Grade 6, KCPE, and KCSE.

The launch was also attended by Education Principal Secretary Dr. Belio Kipsang, Teachers Service Commission CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia, Principal Secretary for Interior and National Administration Dr. Raymond Omollo, Dr. Esther Mworia (TVET), CEO KNEC Dr. David Njeng'ere, Communications Authority acting Director General Christopher Wambua, KNEC chairperson Prof. Julius Nyabundi among other education stakeholders.

Interior PS Dr. Raymond Omollo vowed to support the Ministry of Education as it undertakes the 2023 examination season by coordinating, Administrating security to deliver the National exams

The National Examinations are expected to commence from November as per the examinations Calendar.