Male candidates continue to outshine their female counterparts in KCSE, as observed by education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi, who was speaking at Mtihani House yesterday during the release of the KCSE 2014 results.

88,299 (59 per cent) of male candidates attained an overall mean grade of C+ with only 61,418 (41 per cent) female candidates who attained C+ and above. 2,133 male candidates attained a mean grade of a compares to 940 female candidates.

However when it came to languages and the Christian Religious Education (CRE), female candidates performed better than their male counterparts.

Kaimenyi also noted that the performance of candidates in the 2014 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) has generally improved compared to 2013.

UNDERAGE LEARNERS

The CS also cautioned parents against enrolling children to school way too early before they attain the recommended age by the ministry.

Kaimenyi noted that the number of underage candidates (below the age of 16) had increased from 1.3 per cent in 2013 to 1.9 per cent in 2014.

The required age by the ministry for children to join class one is at least 6 years, which means by the time a pupil is sitting for KCSE she is at least 17 years.

“Enrolling learners who are of the expected age facilitates the stage by stage development of critical cognitive and psychomotor abilities of learners as they go through the educational cycle,” he said.