A TOTAL OF 303,674 CANDIDATES ENTERED THE 2025 EXAMINATION, REPRESENTING A DECREASE OF 6.59 PERCENT COMPARED TO 2024.
OF THE TOTAL 303,674 CANDIDATES WHO ENTERED, 144,976 (47.74%) WERE BOYS, WHILE 158,698 (52.26%) WERE GIRLS.
OUT OF THE 303,674 CANDIDATES WHO ENTERED THE EXAMINATION, 285,634 SAT THE EXAMINATION. THIS REPRESENTED AN INCREASE OF 1.44 PERCENTAGE POINTS FROM THE 93.16 PERCENT RECORDED IN 2024.
OUT OF THE 285,634 WHO SAT THE EXAMINATION, 136,035 (47.63%) WERE BOYS, AND 149,599 (52.37%) WERE GIRLS. A TOTAL OF 18,011 CANDIDATES WERE ABSENT, BRINGING THE 2025 NATIONAL ABSENTEEISM RATE TO 5.94 PERCENT. THIS INDICATED A DECREASE OF 0.90 PERCENTAGE POINTS FROM 6.84 PERCENT IN 2024.
OF THE 285,634 CANDIDATES WHO SAT THE 2025 JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL LEAVING EXAMINATION, 206,357 CANDIDATES (72.25%) OBTAINED CERTIFICATES.
THE PROPORTION OF CANDIDATES OBTAINING CERTIFICATES INCREASED FROM 55.89 PERCENT IN 2024 TO 72.25 PERCENT IN 2025, REPRESENTING AN INCREASE OF 16.36 PERCENT.
THE SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN THE PERFORMANCE OF CANDIDATES IN 2025 IS ATTRIBUTED TO THE GOVERNMENT’S POLICY DECISION TO ABOLISH AUTOMATIC PROGRESSION AND TO ALLOW ONLY LEARNERS WITH THE REQUISITE COMPETENCIES TO PROCEED TO SECONDARY SCHOOL, AS WELL AS TO THE VARIOUS INTERVENTIONS AND INPUTS IMPLEMENTED BY THE GOVERNMENT AND ITS PARTNERS.
THIS GOOD PERFORMANCE PROVIDES FURTHER SUPPORT FOR THE POLICY DECISION TO ABOLISH THE GRADE NINE EXAMINATION, SUGGESTING THAT LEARNERS WHO PASS THE PRIMARY SCHOOL LEAVING EXAMINATION HAVE THE COMPETENCIES REQUIRED TO PROGRESS TO SECONDARY SCHOOL AND COMPLETE FOUR YEARS OF LEARNING BEFORE SITTING THE SCHOOL CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION.
FURTHER, A TOTAL OF 72,321 CANDIDATES REPRESENTING 25.32 PERCENT OBTAINED STATEMENTS. IN COMPARISON TO 2024, THE NUMBER OF CANDIDATES WHO OBTAINED STATEMENTS IN 2025 DECREASED BY 11.07 PERCENTAGE POINTS FROM 36.39 PERCENT IN 2024.
A TOTAL OF 6,956 CANDIDATES (2.44%) FAILED THE EXAMINATION. MORE BOYS, 3,772 (2.77 %), THAN GIRLS, 3,184 (2.13%), FAILED THE EXAMINATION.
ANALYSIS OF PERFORMANCE BY SEX SHOWED THE FOLLOWING:
MORE BOYS (72.30%) THAN GIRLS (72.20%) OBTAINED CERTIFICATES. THIS IS SIMILAR TO 2024, WHERE MORE BOYS THAN GIRLS GOT CERTIFICATES.
MORE GIRLS (25.68%) THAN BOYS (24.93%) OBTAINED STATEMENTS. THIS WAS THE SAME IN 2024. THE PROPORTIONS FOR 2025, HOWEVER, DECREASED FOR BOTH GIRLS AND BOYS BY 12.16 AND 9.83 PERCENTAGE