Opposition leader Raila Odinga has called for talks towards changing "the worrying trend of KCSE candidates failing to meet university entry grade".
"As a society, we must listen to the cries of the candidates, the parents and teachers' unions on this matter and have a serious conversation about this worrying trend," he said in a statement on Thursday.
This was after only 70,073 candidates obtained university entry mean grade of C+, with 142 candidates getting As. Last year, 88,929 attained university entry grades, while 141 got As.
Raila said something needs to be done since the country needs skilled manpower to achieve its ambitious growth goals.
"I am deeply concerned at the high number of students that are failing to make the transition to university," Raila said.
Education CS Fred Matiang'i, during the release of the KCSE results on Wednesday, said there has been a decline in candidates who got A- (minus).
Only 2,714 candidates got A minus compared to 4,645 A- in 2016.
More on this: KCSE 2017: Only 70,000 attain university mean grade, 142 As recorded
But Raila said the whole purpose and value for money is lost when close to 90 per cent of those students eventually fail.
"As a society, we must listen to the cries of the candidates, the parents and teachers’ unions on this matter," he said.
The NASA leader congratulated the candidates for their performance they recorded saying the society should not give up on the children.
"The girls have continued with their good run and I encourage them to stay the course. I encourage those who have not been lucky never to lose confidence in what they are capable of achieving," he said.
Read: Girls top KCSE as 88 per cent fail to qualify for university
Also read: TSC to punish 40 teachers involved in KCSE exam irregularities
This year, 615,773 candidates sat KCSE exam in 9,350 centres, a five per cent increase from last year’s 577,253 candidates.
Of this year's candidates, 1,404 were special needs students.
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