The Ministry of Education in Kenya has introduced a new grading system for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams with the aim of encouraging more students to pursue higher education.
Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has announced that starting this year, the calculation of mean grades will only consider two compulsory subjects. This is a significant departure from the previous system, which required students to excel in five mandatory subjects spread across three clusters: Mathematics, English, Kiswahili, two sciences, and one humanity subject.
Under the new grading system, the only two subjects that will be obligatory for the mean grade calculation are Mathematics and one language, which can be either English, Kiswahili, or Kenyan Sign Language. Additionally, the Kenya National Examinations Council will take into account the grades of the five best-performing subjects in addition to the compulsory two.
Furthermore, there is an ongoing review of the minimum entry requirements for prospective teacher education candidates pursuing the Diploma in Primary Teacher Education (DPTE) and Diploma in Early Childhood Teacher Education (DECTE). As part of this review, teacher trainees will be admitted based on revised subject cluster requirements and corresponding grades.