• Day schools to admit the largest number of candidates, 663,145
• Pangani the most sought after, with 111,817 students selecting it; has only 336 places
Image: FILE
It is an early Christmas gift for 33,009 KCPE candidates in this year’s exam after they bagged places in national secondary schools.
Top student Andy Michael Munyiri -- who scored 440 marks-- will join Alliance High School.
Leading female candidates — June Jeptoo and Onyango Flavian, who tied at 439 marks — landed slots at Pangani Girls and Alliance Girls respectively.
Details of the placement exercise were made public on Monday by Education CS George Magoha in Nairobi.
Magoha said 95 per cent of the candidates have been admitted to school on basis of their choice and performance.
However, the high appetite for schools perceived prestigious and top performing complicated matters for at least 30,000 students who have been placed in schools they had not selected.
CS Magoha said a huge number of candidates had shown interest to join the traditional top performers despite having limited admission slots.
"This year, we discovered that candidates considered capable of scoring top marks in the KCPE have a tendency to select just a few schools. Unfortunately, the top schools that are the envy of these candidates have no capacity to admit all of them," Magoha said.
Pangani by far stood as the most sought after institution, with at least 111,817 students seeking admission but only had 336 slots available.
So too was the case for Alliance High School and Kenya High School, where 83,489 and 49,727 sought admission.
The schools only had 384 and 336 slots available respectively.
Students from marginalized areas will be the biggest beneficiaries of national school places even with less than 400 marks.
This means the biggest chunk of those proceeding to national schools posted less than 400 marks.
Magoha said a total of 1,075,201 have been placed in secondary schools, with the government boasting that upon admission they will have achieved the 100 per cent transition goal.
A total of 184,816 others will join extra-county schools, 188,454 will join county schools while the bulk of the admissions will be to subcounty schools (day schools) that will admit 669,145 students.
"Some 777 SNE candidates have been placed in their choices in regular schools. In total, 1,246 have been placed in various categories of schools," Magoha said on Monday.
The CS warned principals from turning away students who might have trouble in raising the required fees.
The CS furhter revealed that the new students are set to start reporting to respective schools from January the 13, while the last date will be on January 17.
A total of 8,255 overage candidates, prisoners and those in refugee camps were excluded from the placement exercise.
However, Magoha said he was in consultation with the President to see the overage learners are included in the placement exercise.
Magoha has further given the green light to secondary school boards of management in consultation with parents to raise funds that can be used to develop infrastructure in secondary schools.
This is part of the ministry's plan to address the surge in numbers expected to bloat with the admission in January.
The CS said the national government has set aside Sh8 billion to improve infrastructure in primary and secondary schools in 30 counties.
“Ministry officials will be required to file accurate daily returns on the status of reporting to schools to ensure 100 per cent transition. This means that parents, guardians and school managers must facilitate smooth admission of all children to secondary schools,” Magoha said.