This archive report was first published on 2 December 2019.
As the country prepares for the transition to secondary education, thousands of candidates who sat this year's KCPE exam are facing a daunting reality: missing out on their preferred school slots.
The Education Cabinet Secretary, Prof. George Magoha, revealed that the selection panel encountered significant challenges in placing students in top national schools, which have seen a surge in applications.
According to Prof. Magoha, 33,009 candidates were selected to join national schools based on merit and their order of choice. However, this number is a drop in the ocean compared to the total number of candidates who sat for the exam.
Out of the 1,083,456 candidates who took the KCPE exam, 1,075,201 were selected to join secondary schools. The remaining candidates, numbering 8,255, were left out due to various reasons, including being inmates, overage, or refugees in camps.
Prof. Magoha has promised to seek guidance from the President on whether the left-out candidates can be included in the admission plans, which would complete the 100% transition from primary to secondary education as required by Article 53(1)(b) of the Kenya Constitution.
Despite the challenges, the Ministry of Education has made significant strides in placing top KCPE performers in schools of their choice. A total of 777 candidates under the Special Needs Education programme were placed in regular schools, while 1,246 have been placed in various categories of schools.
However, the selection process was not without its challenges. Some schools, such as Pangani Girls National, received an overwhelming number of applications, with 111,817,336 applications received despite having a capacity of only 336 students.
Another challenge noted during the selection was the inadequate capacity of places in secondary schools in some counties. For instance, Nairobi county had only 23,613 slots available for 62,973 candidates, creating a shortfall of 39,360 slots.
Despite these challenges, the Education Ministry has announced that a total of 9,000 candidates will benefit from scholarships through the Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project (SEQIP). The application process for these scholarships will be open until December 16th, 2019.
