Students from informal settlements were prioritised during the placement of almost 1.2 million candidates in secondary schools.
Using affirmative action, more than 700 students from slums were placed in national and extra county schools.
The placement process, which was fully automated, saw 567 learners placed in their first choice of national schools.
Education CS George Magoha said the plan opened up opportunities for learners in the slums and those from vulnerable families.
Magoha spoke at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development where he launched the Form 1 selection on Monday.
“A further intervention was done by giving an additional 314 places in national and extra county schools,” Magoha said.
The students are expected to report to secondary school on May 3.
The CS said the prioritised slums are in Thika, Nyeri, Kisumu, Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru and Eldoret urban centres.
From this intervention, Kimberly Grace who scored 368 marks in Mji wa Huruma slum was selected to join Kenya High School.
Florence Kwamboka from Bridge International School in Mukuru Kwa Njenga was placed in Nyabururu Girls.
Magoha said the concerted efforts by the ministry will ensure children from informal settlements are not left behind.
“Grace is just one among many similar cases, we need to ensure that all future KCPE candidates are able to get opportunities to study in secondary schools they desire,” he said.
Magoha however said most students were not accorded relevant guidance when choosing schools.
This, he said, led to an overflow of applications in a number of schools, mostly national schools.
For instance, Nanyuki High school received 156,003 applications against a capacity of 480 students, Kabianga High 149,087 against 528 slots and Pangani Girls 118,073 against a population of 336.
Maseno School received 110,811 applications against 576 slots, Nakuru High received 107,915 against 336 slots and Alliance Girls received 104,353 against 384 slots.
Others are Kapsabet Boys with 99,725 applications, Butere Girls with 98,410, Mang’u High with 93,648 and Moi Girls Eldoret with 92,666 applications.
Magoha however lauded two schools in Nyanza, which expanded their infrastructure to fit the high number of students to be enrolled.
St Albert Ulanda Girls and Sironga Girls will admit 864 and 816 students respectively to fulfill the 100 per cent transition.
The CS said relevant stakeholders from counties with inadequate capacity should look for alternative methods.
Four counties had inadequate capacity, forcing the ministry to place learners in other counties with sufficient space.
A number of students were also placed in boarding schools outside their counties.
Nairobi county had a capacity of 24,365 students against a candidature of 68,828 reflecting a deficit of 44,464 slots.
Kajiado county had 23,915 against 16,464 spaces; Narok had 31,909 candidates against 30,768 spaces while Mombasa with a candidature of 21,456 had 17,224 slots.
This year’s Form 1 selection was done nationally using computerised systems deployed in 2021 from national to subcounty levels.
Some 38,797 KCPE candidates have been selected to join national schools. Usually, national schools accommodate 29,712 students.
At least 214,000 others have been placed in extra county schools while 258,456 will be enrolled in county schools.
Another 726,311 students will be enrolled in subcounty schools while 2,045 have been placed in special needs schools.
Some 1,214,031 candidates sat the 2021 KCPE exam. Out of this number, 11,857 candidates scored between 400 and 500 marks.
Another 315,275 scored between 300 and 399 marks, while 578,197 scored between 200 and 299 marks.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)
