Shock of primary school learners sitting KCSE exams

It has now emerged that thousands of students are increasingly sitting the Form Four national exams while still very young.

Some of these candidates write the KCSE examination at the age they are supposed to be completing their primary school education.

The revelations came to light on Friday during the release of the 2025 KCSE examination results, which showed that 26,391 learners were aged 16 years and below at the time of sitting the national exams.

This marked a sharp increase from 20,546 underage candidates recorded in 2024, marking a growing trend of learners completing secondary education well before the expected age.

Data from the Ministry of Education shows that the highest numbers of underage candidates were registered in Garissa County, which had 3,120 such learners, followed by Mandera with 2,980, Wajir with 2,740, Turkana with 2,550 and Narok at 2,210.

Other counties with significant numbers included Samburu (1,980), Mombasa (1,850), Homa Bay (1,730), Nyamira (1,620) and West Pokot (1,610).

Education stakeholders attributed this to early enrollment in schools and government ban on repetition of classes.

In some cases, parents pushed forward their children, skipping classes to evade enrolling them in Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) classes.

To put the figures into perspective, a learner completing secondary school at 15 or 16 years would have finished primary education at around 12 or 13 years, implying that they were enrolled in school at about three years old.

This is well below the Ministry of Education’s recommended entry age, which requires children to join Class One at around six years, after completing pre-primary education at four or five.

Under this structure, learners are expected to complete primary school at about 14 years, join Form One at 14 or 15, and sit KCSE at 17 or 18.

Education experts say the reasons behind the growing number of underage candidates are varied and complex.

Interviews with parents suggest that some deliberately push their children ahead to avoid the transition to the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), which is currently being rolled out.

One parent who spoke to The Standard revealed that his son will sit next year’s KCSE examination at the age of 16 after skipping a class.

“He was supposed to be part of the pioneer CBC class, but I wanted to avoid a system where children are used as guinea pigs. Academically, he was doing very well, and the school agreed he could skip a class,” the parent told the Standard.

This was corroborated by another parent who also indicated that they were not willing to allow their children to be the first lot of an education sysytem that was not tested and proven.

Emmanuel Manyasa, the Executive Director of education lobby group Usawa Agenda, says early school enrolment is a major contributor to the phenomenon.

According to him, children from households where both parents work are often enrolled in school much earlier than recommended.

“In families where both parents are working, children are sometimes taken to school very early for convenience, long before the official school-going age,” Manyasa argued.

He added that some parents opt to have their children skip classes when they demonstrate exceptional academic ability.

“Where a child shows high cognitive aptitude and strong academic performance, parents and schools may agree to accelerate their progression by skipping grades,” he said.

However, Manyasa also pointed to weaknesses in age-verification systems, noting that inaccurate or manipulated age records continue to distort official data.

“Some parents to scramble for birth certificates after a child has already grown,and they need to register for the examination and at this point they may not tell the truth. There is a belief among some parents that when you push your age back by a few years, it gives you an edge in public service when you are employed, you get to work longer," he said.

The effects of early completion of secondary education have already been felt at the university level. In previous years, underage students transitioning to higher education missed out on government funding because they lacked National ID cards, which were previously mandatory for student loan applications.

The issue sparked widespread protests in 2023, forcing the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) to relax the ID requirement for first-time applicants who completed KCSE from 2023 onwards.

Under the revised guidelines, such applicants can now apply for loans using their KCSE index numbers, although parental identification details remain mandatory.