Kenyan Sign Language Emerges as Worst-Performed Subject in Junior School Assessment
Education Updated: 12 December 2025 11:36 EAT
The official release of the inaugural Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) results revealed performance challenges, with Kenyan Sign Language (KSL) recording the lowest achievement among the assessed subjects.
The results, which mark the transition of the first cohort of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) learners, showed that KSL emerged as the worst-performing subject, with only 22.14% of learners meeting or exceeding expectations.
This low performance prompts concerns regarding resource allocation, teacher training, and inclusion strategies for deaf learners within the new curriculum framework.
Additionally, mathematics was identified as the second-worst-performing subject, with only 32.44% of learners meeting the "Meeting Expectation" or "Exceeding Expectation" benchmark.
In contrast, subjects like Hindu Religious Education (84.62%) and Integrated Science (61.77%) were among the best-performing areas in the assessment, which also saw girls outperforming boys overall.
Female learners outperformed males in meeting and exceeding expectations in 10 out of the 12 subjects.
The widest gender disparities were recorded in Kiswahili (64.86% for females vs. 51.41% for males), CRE (59.77% vs. 48.39%), English (52.86% vs. 48.45%), and social studies (62.98% vs. 54.35%).
Announcing the results on Thursday, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos Ogamba confirmed that all 1,130,459 cohorts will transition into one of the three designated senior school pathways under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC): Arts & Sports Science, Social Sciences, or STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).
The CS explained that the overall performance of the learners has been categorized into four competency levels: exceeding expectation, meeting expectation, approaching expectation, and below expectation.
Assessment scores were reported on a scale of 1 to 8, with 8 representing the highest level (Exceeding Expectation 1) and 1 the lowest (Below Expectation 2).
CS Ogamba outlined the plan for the transition of learners to Senior School (Grade 10), saying that placement will be determined by the learners' performance in the assessment and their chosen Senior School pathways (Arts & Sports Science, Social Sciences, or STEM).
The matching and allocation process is scheduled to begin next week and is projected to be finalized by December 20, 2025.
Grade 10 learners are expected to report to their respective senior schools starting January 12, 2026.
Tags: Ksl Bill2023 Julius Ogamba Ministry Of Education Editor's Pick
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