Girls outshine boys in inaugural KJSEA
In the first-ever Kenya Junior School Education Assessment, girls outshone boys, showing impressive performance across most subjects evaluated under the new Competency-Based Education grading system.
According to Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba, Nairobi had the highest number of candidates participating in the 2025 KJSEA.
While announcing the results at the Kenya National Examination Council headquarters in Nairobi, Ogamba revealed that the capital city had 71,022 candidates, followed by Kakamega County with 59,384, and Nakuru coming in third with 54,028.
Overall, 1,130,459 learners took part in the assessment, with boys making up 578,630 (51.19 percent) and girls 551,829 (48.81 percent). Ogamba noted that 41 counties had a notably higher number of male candidates compared to female candidates, while Mombasa was the only county to achieve gender balance. He also mentioned that Isiolo, Samburu, Nairobi, Marsabit, and West Pokot had a significantly larger number of female candidates than male ones.
“According to Ogamba, the majority of students who took the 2025 KJSEA—642,620 to be exact, which is about 56.84 percent—were in the ideal age range of 14 to 15 years. He pointed out that there were 35,270 candidates (3.12 percent) who were underage, at just 13 years old or younger, while 415,059 (36.71 percent) fell into the 16 and 17 age bracket.
For those aged 18 and older, there were 37,638 candidates (3.33 percent). Kilifi had the highest percentage of overage learners (16 and above) at 64.90 percent, closely followed by Kwale at 64.78 percent, Garissa at 63.38 percent, Taita Taveta at 62.06 percent, and Mandera at 62.05 percent. On the flip side, Baringo had the largest share of underage learners at 10.10 percent, with Bomet (7.56 percent), Marsabit (7.84 percent), Narok (7.28 percent), and Kericho (7.25 percent) trailing behind.
When announcing the results, Ogamba highlighted that female candidates outperformed their male peers in exceeding expectations in 10 out of the 12 subjects evaluated.
The most significant gender gap was seen in Kiswahili, where 64.86 percent of girls exceeded expectations, compared to 51.41 percent of boys. Girls also excelled in Christian Religious Education, with 59.77 percent achieving the top grade versus 48.39 percent of boys. In English, 52.86 percent of girls surpassed expectations, while 48.45 percent of boys did the same. In Social Studies, girls achieved 62.89 percent in the top band, compared to 54.35 percent of boys.
Ogamba explained that this year’s results were based on a new and intricate grading system that doesn’t use percentage or numerical marks. Instead, students were evaluated across four performance levels: Exceeding Expectation, Meeting Expectation, Approaching Expectation, and Below Expectation.
Candidates were assessed on these four levels, using an eight-point scale where point 8 signifies the best performance at Exceeding Expectation 1, and point 1 indicates Below Expectation 1.
The final grade was made up of 20 percent from the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA), another 20 percent from school-based assessments in Grades 7 and 8, and a hefty 60 percent from the summative Grade 9 KJSEA.
Ogamba mentioned that scores were reported on an eight-point scale to clearly differentiate between exemplary and good performances.
Out of the 12 subjects evaluated, seven showed a greater number of students achieving at least Meeting Expectation or Exceeding Expectation.
These subjects included Hindu Religious Education (84.62 percent), Integrated Science (61.77 percent), Social Studies (58.56 percent), Creative Arts and Sports (58.04 percent), Kiswahili (57.98 percent), Christian Religious Education (53.96 percent), and Agriculture (52.26 percent).
Ogamba pointed out that 75 percent of learners scored at Approaching Expectation or higher across all subjects. Creative Arts and Sports had the best results, with an impressive 96.84 percent reaching Approaching Expectation or above, followed closely by Agriculture at 96.2 percent, Kiswahili at 93.11 percent, and Social Studies at 92.92 percent. However, he expressed concern about Mathematics and Kenya Sign Language, where only 32.44 percent and 22.14 percent of candidates, respectively, achieved Meeting and Exceeding Expectation.
The CS noted that 59.09 percent of all candidates showed potential to follow the STEM pathway in Senior School, while 46.52 percent qualified for the Social Sciences pathway and 48.73 percent for the Arts and Sports pathway.
Placement into Senior Schools is set to start next week and will wrap up by December 20, 2025. The 9,540 institutions have been categorized into C1, C2, C3, and C4 based on the pathways they offer. Ogamba reassured everyone that the schools have enough capacity, highlighting that 929,262 learners will be leaving the current Senior School population after this year’s KCSE, leaving three classes still in session.
“These classrooms are expected to provide extra space enabling us to avoid overcrowding. We therefore have more than enough capacity to accommodate the learners,” he said.
Girls outshine boys in inaugural KJSEA
