Out of the 574,125 candidates who sat the KCSE this year, 16 girls were ranked among the top 20 positions.
According to Education CS Fred Matiang'i, there is much to be done especially with regards to gender.
"It means there is something we need to do about the boy child," he said.
Of the 574,125 candidates, 300,995 were male, while 273,130 were female, representing 52.43% and 47.57% of the total candidature respectively.
He released the shocker results at Shimo La Tewa High in Mombasa County.