KJSEA 2025 results: Mathematics, Kenyan sign language record lowest performance among learners

Mathematics and Kenyan Sign Language recorded the lowest performance among Grade 9 learners, as many struggled to achieve Meeting and Exceeding Expectations, the Education Ministry has revealed.

According to the results, only 32.44 per cent of learners met or exceeded expectations in Mathematics, while Kenyan Sign Language recorded just 22.14 per cent.

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba said female learners outperformed males in 10 of the 12 subjects. The widest gender gaps were observed in Kiswahili (64.86 per cent vs. 51.41 per cent), Christian Religious Education (59.77 per cent vs. 48.39 per cent), English (52.86 per cent vs. 48.45 per cent), and Social Studies (62.98 per cent vs. 54.35 per cent).

Of the 1,130,459 candidates who sat for the 2025 Kenya Junior Secondary Education Assessment (KJSEA), 59.09 per cent showed potential to pursue STEM pathways, 46.52 per cent for Social Sciences, and 48.73 per cent for Arts and Sports.

Seven of the twelve subjects recorded a higher proportion of learners performing at Meeting and Exceeding Expectations. These were Hindu Religious Education (84.62 per cent), Integrated Science (61.77 per cent), Social Studies (58.56 per cent), Creative Arts and Sports (58.04 per cent), Kiswahili (57.98 per cent), Christian Religious Education (53.96 per cent), and Agriculture (52.26 per cent).

Ogamba noted that 75 per cent of learners achieved Approaching Expectations and above across all subjects. Creative Arts and Sports had the strongest performance, with 96.84 per cent attaining Approaching Expectations or higher, followed by Agriculture (96.24 per cent), Kiswahili (93.11 per cent), and Social Studies (92.93 per cent).

“An Approaching Expectation grade is sufficient for learners to progress to senior school pathways that require basic competencies in the subject area,” Ogamba said.

Special arrangements will prioritise top-performing learners and those with special needs during senior school placements. KNEC has also launched an online platform for teacher capacity building to support the next phase of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC). Parents can check selected schools and pathways via the ministry portal or SMS to ensure transparency.

The 2025 KJSEA assessed nine subjects, including English, Kiswahili, Mathematics, Integrated Science, Pre-Technical Studies, Social Studies, Agriculture, Religious Education, and Physical Health Education & Sports. Learners will progress to senior school pathways in STEM, Social Sciences, or Arts & Sports.

KNEC introduced new scoring bands; Exceeding Expectations (EE1 90–100 per cent, EE2 75–89 per cent), Meeting Expectations (ME1 58–74 per cent, ME2 41–57 per cent), Approaching Expectations (AE1 31–40 per cent, AE2 21–30 per cent), and Below Expectations (BE1 11–20 per cent, BE2 1–10 per).

Final placements will consider 60 per cent KJSEA results, 20 per cent school-based assessments, and 20 per cent KPSEA scores, alongside learners’ declared interests and KNEC-recommended pathways.

On concerns over school costs, Ogamba reassured parents that renaming schools into clusters does not affect fees.

“The school fees remain the same as it has always been. We have not changed it. There is no change; Alliance School is still Alliance High School, whether we call it category one or a national school. The fact that we have changed the name does not change the fees,” he said.

Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok highlighted that placement for the 1.13 million learners is already underway, with all candidates having selected their preferred schools earlier in the year.

“All the 1.13 have been allowed to select the 12 schools of choice; the selection has already been made. After the release of the results, the next thing is placement; to place students in schools they have selected,” he said.

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• Kenyan sign language record lowest performance among learners

Bitok added that the Ministry has adopted the CRF revenue allocation formula to ensure equitable distribution across four school categories: Cluster 1, Cluster 2, Cluster 3, and Cluster 4.

“For us to be able to place the students equitably, we have adopted the CRF formula of revenue allocation to be able to distribute as fairly as possible students from across all counties in all four categories of school,” he said.

“As you are aware, the formula takes care of the population, the size, poverty, and other components. We have adopted the formula so that we are as fair as possible, such that a child in Northern Kenya or Western Kenya can get an opportunity to get a school in Nairobi or any other county.”

He said all learners should know their placements by next week, after which a five-day revision window will be open.

“By next week, all students will know where they have been placed, after which we shall have a 5-day window for revision if they want to revise just like the way KUCCPS gives opportunities to university students to revise their choices. The process will be seamless,” Bitok said.

Bitok said the government expects 100 per cent transition, noting the country has more than enough capacity.

“Our expectation is 100 per cent transition for every child to move to the next level since we have 1.1 million learners against 1.5 million declared positions in senior school. So we have 400,000 extra. We are hoping that by Christmas every learner will know which senior school they are joining, and by January 12, we expect all these learners to report to school,” he said.