SHOCK as top KCPE students with over 400 marks miss national school slots; Here’s why

After failing to secure a spot in national schools, a number of students who achieved a score of 400 or higher in the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination will now attend public sub-county secondary schools.

All 1.4 million eligible students were assigned to public secondary schools by the Ministry of Education in accordance with the government’s 100% transition policy.

However, thousands of students were not chosen to attend schools that corresponded with their grades because they had not chosen their preferred schools before the exams.

January 15, 2024 is the deadline for all 2024 Form One learners to report.

Kenyan public schools are divided into five categories: National, Extra County, County, Sub County, and Special Needs Education. Students are assigned to these categories based on their results on the KCPE exams.

Ezekiel Machogu, the cabinet secretary for education, reports that 28,052 candidates overall did not choose any secondary schools among the available options.

Based on their results in the KCPE, 222 of these would have been eligible to enroll in national schools, 4,837 would have received enough grades to enroll in additional county schools, 8,716 would have enrolled in county schools, and 14,277 would have enrolled in sub-county schools.

“During the placement, my attention was drawn to a specific issue that is worthy of mention. Some candidates, despite having high scores, did not make any school choices. A total of 28,052 candidates did not make choices of schools in various categories,” said Mr Machogu.

Adding:

“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.”

These included 330 candidates from Bungoma county’s Kopsiro sub-county and 683 candidates from Nyandarua’s Wanjohi sub-county.

The candidates’ choices and merit are the main factors considered by the ministry when making placements.

Additionally, some students were assigned to neighboring counties after being denied spots in schools within their own counties.

According to information from the Ministry of Education, 62,007 pupils have been assigned to schools that are located outside of their counties.

According to Mr. Machogu, this was caused by a significant increase in candidates who took the 2023 KCPE exams, which saw a rise of roughly 180,000.