Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Ezekiel Machogu on Monday announced that only 121,391 candidates who obtained C+ and above in the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) applied for university placement.

In a statement, the CS noted that the aforementioned numbers account for 60.8 per cent of all candidates who achieved the university entry grades. He also noted that the ministry has been monitoring the application process since it began.

Machogu also announced that 70 per cent of all the targeted applicants who scored the university entry grades applied for placement.

"Based on the application behaviour of the 2022 KCSE Examination candidates who had obtained a mean grade of C+ and above, it is projected that 86% of the 2023 KCSE candidates with C+ and above (171,7380 will apply for placement. This means that as of February 25, 2022, 70% of all the targeted applicants with C+ and above had applied for placement," Machogu said.

"The remaining applicants (14%) are expected to seek opportunities in non-participating universities, Module II programmes or institutions of higher learning in other countries," the statement read in parts.

CS Machogu additionally encouraged students who scored mean grades of between C and E to take advantage of the ongoing applications to select their desired diploma, craft certificate or artisan programmes offered across TVET institutions.

He also asserted that the ministry had taken note of the challenges faced during the ongoing application process and assured applicants that various stakeholders in government were working round the clock to ensure that the challenges were addressed.

Further, Machogu reiterated that the ministry was determined to ensure that all eligible applicants are given a chance so that no student is left behind in the process.

To achieve this, the ministry subsequently announced a new deadline for the application of courses.

Through a statement shared by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS), the ministry extended the deadline to March 4, 2024.

"A technical team comprising representatives from relevant agencies has been put together to fast-track the application transactions. In the meantime, applicants whose payments are experiencing unusual delays are encouraged to use the USSD code *222# to confirm their payments and/or trigger validation," Machogu said.