Private schools in the country have welcomed the move to place students who got 400 marks and above in national schools of their choice regardless of whether they did their exams in private or public schools.
These will be a shift from the disputed quota system used in securing secondary national school positions which prioritized Public schools in the placement of national schools.
The system had caused serious concerns by stakeholders citing discrimination of private schools.
Read more:
In the announcement by Education CS Fred Matiang'i on Tuesday, private and public school candidates in the 2017 KCPE examination stand equal opportunities in occupying in placement process scheduled for 4th December.
However, going by the performance of the just released Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams, private schools stand the lion’s share of securing national schools slots positions.
However, those being posted to extra-county schools, county schools and sub-county schools might be affected with the quota system in the selection process.
Speaking to the Star on Wednesday, Kenya Primary School Headteacher’s Association (KEPSHA) chairperson Shem Ndolo, welcomed the move by the ministry citing it was a great step to ensure reward for hard-work to students.
However, he challenged the move to be adopted across the whole selection process.
“It is a process where every child, irrespective of their socio-economic background, is assured of placement informed by excellence. Whereas the present selection has immensely benefited from lessons learned from past practice, it is our intention to build on the gains of past selection to perfect current and future selection processes,” Ndolo said.
The quota system was a government policy formulated to bridge the gap between the educationally developed regions\schools and the educationally less developed regions/schools.
The method is weighted to favor rural areas at the expense of big towns and public school at the expense of private schools.
Speaking to the Star, Nairobi County Chief Executive Committee member in charge of education Janet Ouko dismissed the quota system citing it was against the law and discriminative.
“The quota system is unjustifiable and is not backed by policy. The ministry should ensure all schools have an enabling environment to provide quality education for all,” Ouko said.