Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei. [Photo: Facebook/ Senator Wakili Cherargei]

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The Ministry of Education has been asked to consider reducing the minimum entry grades for universities from the current C+ (plus) to at least C (plain).

This is in what Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei says will enable more students who sat for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examinations (KCSE) in 2017 get admission to universities.

Speaking to the press at Annex in the outskirts of Eldoret town on Wednesday, Cherargei further asked the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service ( KUCCPS) to lower entry grades for other tertiary institutions to D+ (plus).

The youthful Senator expressed concerns over hundreds of candidates who failed to attain grades to enable them to proceed to tertiary institutions under the existing rules.

"We need to look at ways of accommodating more students in our institutions of higher learning keeping I mind mass failures we witnessed in the 2017 KCSE," noted Cherargei.

"If we maintain the previous entry marks what will happen to the over 500,000 youths who failed to attain the required grades?" he added.

According to the 2017 KCSE results that were released last month, over half of the candidates failed to attain grades to enable them to proceed to higher education or secure gainful employment.An analysis of the results countrywide indicated that 135,550 candidates scored grade D, 179,381 grade D- and 35,536-grade E.