Education CS George Magoha has defended the ministry from blame for pupils who were placed in secondary schools that were not their first or any choices.
Magoha said most of the 30,000 pupils who will proceed to schools they had not picked didn't list them as their first choices.
“When you put Mang’u (high school) as number three, what do you think you are doing?” Magoha asked.
He spoke while officially opening the 15th Kepsha annual delegates conference at the Kenya School of Revenue Administration in Mombasa.
The CS warned parents against "confusing their children" adding that the ministry has given them justice.
“The top five children of every county were taken to top schools if they chose them,” he said.
He said nobody was denied a placement in their first choice school if they met the cut-off marks.
On Monday, while publishing the results of the placement exercise, Magoha attributed limited spaces in the picked schools.
He also blamed the scramble for the top schools for the predicament.
"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.
The CS said he had even given room for the pupils’ choices to be reviewed, but few did.
“That was in July. But still, some students just chose two schools. We are a democracy and we must also allow them."
“Now, if you were in my position and the child has only chosen two schools. And those two schools were taken yesterday. What would you do with them? Would you not place them?” he asked.
He said the ministry had to look for good schools for them to attend.
He said Precious Blood, an extra-county school, got about 70 children with over 400 marks due to the ministry’s effort.
“That is fairness. So, don’t listen to the few squeaks you are getting around. Everybody had gotten their school."
Edited by R.Wamochie
