Only 70,073 candidates have attained university entry mean grade of C+, with 142 candidates getting As.
Last year, 88,929 attained university entry grades, while 141 got As.
Speaking when he released KCSE results on Wednesday, Education CS Fred Matiang’i said there has been a decline in candidates who got A-.
Only 2,714 candidates got A-, compared to 4,645 A- in 2016.
But he noted that female candidates have performed better.
“In six subjects female candidates performed way better than the men and also the bulk of schools that have done well are girls schools,” he said.
Matiang’i mentioned three schools that have done well: Alliance Girls, Kenya High and Pangani Girls.