It has emerged that more than 120,000 applicants for the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) were placed in secondary schools they did not select.
While presiding over the 2024 Form One placement at Lenana School on Monday, Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu said 1,400,329 students out of the 1,406 557 who took the KCPE examination have managed to secure placements in various high schools.
The latest revelation, however, implies that 126,029 of the 1.4 million candidates will report to institutions they did not prefer.
Machogu admitted that some learners missed the chance to join their preferred secondary schools due to limited space, particularly in Nairobi, Kwale, Narok, Kilifi, Mombasa, Kajiado, and Isiolo counties.
“A few candidates could not be placed using the above criteria and were placed in schools of equivalent standing outside their counties. This number included those from counties with inadequate capacity,” Machogu said.
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The CS maintained that the selection and placement of the other students were strictly guided by the principles of merit, choice, equity, affirmative action, and availability of space.
Some parents have, however, decried the process, noting that some learners with very good grades were placed in low-ranking institutions.
“Some learners who have scored very highly, including some with 400 marks, have been placed in very lowly-ranked schools,” Jasper Omwega, National Parents Association, Nairobi County chairman, said.
Machogu, however, revealed that 28,052 candidates did not make choices of schools in various categories, prompting the Education Ministry to place them in schools close to their former primary schools.
Out of these, he said 222 candidates did not select any national school, while 4,837 did not pick extra-county, county 8,716, and sub-county 14,277. This means that some high-performing candidates might have ended up in low-ranked schools.
“This situation presented us with a dilemma, as we sought to ensure that every candidate had a placement that would enable them to continue their education seamlessly.”
“A decision was therefore reached to place these candidates in public sub-county secondary schools that were nearest to their former primary schools,” Machogu explained.
