More than a million candidates, one national exam: Kenya's school leavers sit the biggest KCSE in history

The exam halls have never been this full. A record 1,048,355 candidates have begun the written papers of Kenya's Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations — the first time the cohort has passed one million, up 5.27% from 995,860 in 2025. Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos Ogamba oversaw the distribution of papers in Nyamira County and visited St Kizito Nyansiongo Boys Senior School as the main written papers got under way, running from 2 to 20 November after weeks of practical and oral papers. Behind the record is a simple, hopeful arithmetic: more Kenyan children are staying in school long enough to sit the exam that opens the door to university, college and work.

SDG 4 · Quality education — Mechanism: institutional program