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Kabarak High School students and Chief Principal Elsheba Cheruiyot celebrate after the release of 2025 KCSE exam results on January 9, 2026.
The 2025 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination results announced on Friday had few surprises as schools which have historically topped the charts merely swapped places.
National, extra-county and high-end private schools were among the best performing.
Most schools improved their mean scores and the number of students who qualified for university degree courses.
The Ministry of Education no longer ranks schools, but an analysis by the Sunday Nation from verified results received shows Moi High School Kabarak had a mean score of 10.6 – the highest by any institution.
The private school has featured among the top in the KCSE examination in Kenya for many years.
Alliance Girls High School students celebrate as they carry Charlotte Ivy (left) and Kerina Maureen Kemunto at the institution on January 9, 2026. The two scored A in the 2025 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations.
Alliance High School posted a mean score of 10.47. It had 128 candidates scoring straight A against the national tally of 1,932. Of the 461 candidates who sat the examination at the school, 456 scored C+ and above, thereby qualifying for university directly.
Nyambaria High School, which was top in the 2023 examination, had a mean of 10.34 from a candidature of 1,034. It was followed by Maranda High School.
George Momanyi of Nyambaria High School is carried shoulder high on Friday after he scored A plain of 83 points.
A new entrant in the top 10 list is Nova Pioneer Tatu Boys High School, a private institution at Tatu City in Kiambu County. It had a mean score of 10.20, whereas Nova Pioneer Tatu City Girls had 8.3.
Though The Kenya High School had not released its mean score by last evening, we established that the school had 40 As and 135 A- (minus). Kenya High has been among the top performers over the years.
In the 2024 KCSE examination, Merishaw, a private school in Kajiado County, had the best mean score (10.5686), with all its 51 candidates qualifying for direct university entry.
Though the Sunday Nation had not established the mean grade for Merishaw by the time of going to press, we obtained a message from the dean of studies, Caryl Aringo, to the candidates.
“We congratulate the Class of 2025 Morans for their courage, discipline and commitment in undertaking the KCSE examination. We are grateful for a solid and encouraging outcome that has enabled a significant number of our students to qualify for university education, locally and internationally,” the message read.
“We are proud of your resilience and determination, and Merishaw remains a school to watch in the coming examinations.”
Eighty eight candidates at Murang’a High School had a mean grade of A, while 155 others scored A-.
Murang’a High, which is headed by Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association Chairman Willy Kuria, had a mean score of 10.163 and 522 candidates.
Alliance Girls High School had a mean of 10.07 while Starehe Boys Centre had 9.98.
Others in the list of top performers were Meru School (9.97), Kisima Mixed Secondary (9.94), Kagumo High (9.9) and Kapsabet Boys High with 9.9.
Barrack Ondicho, a top student at Kapsabet Boys High School who scored an A plain with 84 points, says nothing comes easy.
Kapsabet High is one of the most in-demand schools in the North Rift, owing to a history of stellar performance in national examinations.
Other new entrants on the list are Tanyileel Girls High School in Baringo, which had a mean score of 9.3, up from 8.2 in 2024 and 7.2 in 2023.
A total of 119 candidates in the school had a mean grade of A-, 59 B+, 41 B, eight B- and four C+.
Kinyach Secondary School in Kerio Valley also surprised many to register a mean of 8.2, with all its 32 candidates scoring a C+ and above to qualify for direct university entry.
The Tiaty School in Baringo County, which presented candidates for the KCSE examination for the first time in 2025, had a mean of 8.9.
The 78 candidates had a mean grade of C+ and above.
Data provided by the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) shows huge disparities between national and sub-county schools.
Despite accounting for about 70 percent of the candidates, the day schools had the highest number of students failing to qualify for degree or diploma programmes.
Overall, the 2025 tests had the highest number of candidates qualifying for degree programmes in eight years.
Knec Chief Executive, David Njeng’ere, said it is a step in the right direction.
“For a country not experiencing war, floods, drought or other calamities, a minimum of 30 per cent should qualify for higher education. We are moving closer the global minimum of students who qualify,” he said during the release of the results at AIC Chebisas School in Uasin Gishu County.
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