There have been numerous complaints from parents and students who fail to get chances in schools they select. Photo/CFM-FILE.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 24- Students joining Form One from next year will now be placed in schools they selected.
Under current regulations by the Ministry of Education, students are selected based on their performance and given letters to join secondary schools, including those they did not choose.
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha, says they have agreed with education stakeholders to ensure they accommodate the students’ and parents’ wishes due to numerous complaints in the past.
Magoha said factors to be considered will include “choice, merit and nothing less.”
“We will no longer have a situation like we have been having in the past, where in one school you find that a top scorer is denied a chance to join their dream school, yet someone who scored less than them get placed to the schools they selected,” said Magoha.
Magoha’s sentiments come at a time when the quota selection was being criticised for denying deserving students a chance to join their dream schools.
Magoha further directed the examinations council to open a portal for 1.1 million KCPE candidates to revise their secondary school choices, ahead of the national examinations due in November.
“Over time, the Ministry has realised that some students wish to revise their Form One selection choices in second term after having effectively assessed their likely KCPE potential based on class assessments. To respond to this, I have directed KNEC to immediately open a window to allow candidates who are already registered to revise their Form one choices,” said Magoha.
He said he has directed KNEC to ensure that it provides guidelines for the revision to ensure completion by Aug 2, 2019.
Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang has assured that there will be no human interaction in the process of changing schools selected by students.
Kipsang said out of the 11 school choices, students will get an opportunity in one of them depending on the marks scored.
“Going forward everything will be done online, such that a student as far as Marsabit can go to a cyber café and make the changes in their selection and that’s why the Ministry has given parents and students time to review their choices online,” said Kipsang.
According to the Kenya National Examination Council, 1,788,731 students have been registered to sit in this year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations.
The Ministry of Education has further committed to making sure that delivery process in this year’s examinations is far much better than last year.
About The Author
