Female learners outperformed male learners in the 2025 Kenya Junior Secondary Education Assessment (KJSEA) examinations.
Releasing the results on Thursday, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba said female learners met and exceeded expectations in 10 out of the 12 subjects.
“The widest gender gap was observed in Kiswahili at 64 .86 verses 51.4 per cent followed by CRE at 59.77 per cent versus 48.39 per cent,” he said.
He said the gap in English 52.82 per cent versus 48.45 per cent and Social Studies at 62.89 versus 54.35 per cent.
“Of concern, howeve,r are mathematics and Kenyan Sign Language which recorded 32.44 per cent and 22.14 per cent performing and meeting expectation respectively,” he said.
These are the first results to be released at the end of the Junior School level, the 2025 Grade 9 cohort being the pioneer class of the CBE system who sat their KPSEA in 2022.
In line with the Basic Education Curriculum Framework, the learners completing Junior School were assessed in the following nine subject areas: English Language; Kiswahili Lugha / Kenyan Sign Language (KSL); Mathematics; Integrated Science; Agriculture and Nutrition; Social Studies; Christian Religious Education/Islamic Religious Education(IRE) /Hindu Religious Education (HRE); Creative Arts and Sports; and Pre-Technical Studies.
According to the Ministry of Education, after KJSEA results are released, senior school placement letters will be issued within one week.
The ministry said admission to senior schools begins on January 12, 2026. Placement decisions will consider merit, learner preferences, aptitude, equity, and school capacity.
This tight schedule means parents need to be prepared. They are advised to have their child’s assessment number ready, ensure they have sufficient airtime or internet access, and start planning financially for the transition. Ogamba assured that the ministry is ready to implement the placement system seamlessly.
Under the new system, learners are required to select 12 schools based on preferred pathways: seven first-choice, three second-choice, and two third-choice schools.
Of these, nine must be boarding schools (three within the home county and six outside), while three must be day schools within the learner’s sub-county.
Placement decisions consider learner choice, merit (from KJSEA and prior assessments), psychometric test results, regional equity or affirmative action, and school capacity.
