The 2014 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) Essential Statistics report [pdf] includes the age distribution of the candidates.
The mode is the 13 and 14 year cohort. 343,825 candidates but they only accounting for 39% of the total number of candidates.
Candidates aged 12 and under and 15 year old account for 2% and 25% respectively.
308,185 KCPE candidates in 2014 were in the 16, 17, 18 and 19 and above years age cohorts, accounting for 35% of the total number of candidates.
The number if these 'older' candidates is much higher than I expected. My assumption was that the majority of KCPE candidates are 13 - 14 years old. Perhaps there will also be a few young 12 year old boys and girls who started school early, some repeaters and a few older candidates who due to life circumstances are adult learners.
My assumption is based on the expectation that learners should enroll in class one when they are 6 years old, so 7 years later they should be 13 - 14 years old. Perhaps a few will be 12 or 15. After all I started my primary school education when I was 5 and a 1/2 years old, and my daughters commenced at ages 6, 5 and a 1/2 and 6 and a 1/2 respectively.
My assumption is obviously flawed and it is foolish to extrapolate my experience to the rest of the country and I am not sure how to explain the large number of 'older' candidates ;
Note; The total number of candidates for the 2014 KCPE in the age distribution table is 888,134 but the total number of candidates in other sections of the KCPE Essential Statistics report is 880,486. A discrepancy of 7,648.
308,185 KCPE candidates in 2014 were in the 16, 17, 18 and 19 and above years age cohorts, accounting for 35% of the total number of candidates.
The number if these 'older' candidates is much higher than I expected. My assumption was that the majority of KCPE candidates are 13 - 14 years old. Perhaps there will also be a few young 12 year old boys and girls who started school early, some repeaters and a few older candidates who due to life circumstances are adult learners.
My assumption is based on the expectation that learners should enroll in class one when they are 6 years old, so 7 years later they should be 13 - 14 years old. Perhaps a few will be 12 or 15. After all I started my primary school education when I was 5 and a 1/2 years old, and my daughters commenced at ages 6, 5 and a 1/2 and 6 and a 1/2 respectively.
My assumption is obviously flawed and it is foolish to extrapolate my experience to the rest of the country and I am not sure how to explain the large number of 'older' candidates ;
- Is this a consequence of the free primary education policy of 2003 which resulted in many who did not have a chance to enroll in school earlier to join as older students?
- Do learners in certain sections of the country enroll in school later due to cultural and contextual reasons e.g long distances to walk to school?
Any comments and explanations are welcome.
Note; The total number of candidates for the 2014 KCPE in the age distribution table is 888,134 but the total number of candidates in other sections of the KCPE Essential Statistics report is 880,486. A discrepancy of 7,648.
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