Opposition Chief Raila Odinga on Thursday congratulated all the students who sat the 2017 KCSE and got their results on Wednesday.
In a statement seen by Kenyans.co.ke, Mr Odinga passed his regards to the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) for minimising exam irregularities and congratulated teachers whose schools had excelled in the examinations.
"Results of this year’s Kenya Certificate of Education (KCSE) examinations are out. We wish to congratulate all our young boys and girls who have excelled in these exams for realizing their dreams that are intertwined with the hopes and dreams of our nation.
"We congratulate the teachers and the schools for the exemplary performance they have recorded. The girls have continued with their good run and I encourage them to stay the course.
"We recognize the improvements at the Kenya National Examination Council that have seen a reduction in cheating and speedy release of results," Odinga posted on his Facebook page.
[caption caption="File image of NASA Leader Raila Odinga"]
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Addressing the students, the former Prime Minister called upon those who had not performed well never to lose confidence in what they are capable of achieving.
The National Super Alliance (NASA) Leader, however, expressed his frustrations with what he termed as 'mass failure' in the KCSE and demanded explanations.
"I am deeply concerned at the high number of students that are failing to make the transition to university. The overall number of candidates with minimum university entry qualification, Grade C+ and above stands at only 11.38. Close to 90 percent of the KCSE candidates have failed.
"As a society, we must listen to the cries of the candidates, the parents and teachers’ unions on this matter and have a serious conversation about this worrying trend of very low transition to the university that has been witnessed in recent years. Our country demands it, we must not give up on our children," he stated.
He explained that since the country had invested a lot of resources in the education sector, the performance should go up and not vice versa.
"This is very worrying. Our country needs skilled manpower to achieve its ambitious growth goals. Making the transition from high school to university is a significant, though not the only step, towards the realization of those national goals.
"As the country commits resources to free learning and scales up enrollment, the whole purpose and value for money is lost when close to 90 percent of those students eventually fail," Odinga stated.
The 2017 results were released on Wednesday with President Uhuru Kenyatta calling for reforms so that the achievements made in the last few years is maintained.
[caption caption="CS Matiang'i and other government officials after releasing 2017 KCSE results"]
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