200,000 to miss places in public secondary schools
KCPE candidates stand while attending a prayer session. Education Minister Sam Ongeri announced on Tuesday that more than 200,000 pupils who sat this year’s national examination are likely to miss secondary school places next year. PHOTO/ FILE
More than 200,000 pupils who sat this year’s national examination are likely to miss secondary school places next year.
Going by a transition rate of 70 per cent given by Education minister Sam Ongeri on Tuesday, only 487,012 pupils will proceed to Form One.
A total of 346,885 pupils scored the minimum 250 marks out of a possible 500 in this year’s KCPE exam.
The Form One selection for the national schools, which accommodate slightly more than 3,000 students, will start on January 8, 2009, followed by the provincial and district selections.
This year, district schools admitted 321,033 new students, while the provincial schools admitted 118,375 students. Private secondary schools took in 50,771 students.
Of those who sat the KCPE exam in 2007, 211,475 missed Form One places in this year’s selection due to limited facilities in both public and private secondary schools.
Next year, 208,720 pupils face the same fate and are likely to join non-formal education institutions and tertiary institutions such as polytechnics.
Prof Ongeri said the Government would aim at empowering non-formal schools to increase the transition rate from primary school.
Polytechnics
The current growth of the post-primary transition rate to 70 per cent has been attributed to the construction of more schools and extra classrooms, especially with the Constituency Development Fund.
Already the Government has rolled out a new curriculum for the country’s youth polytechnics with the aim of making them more attractive to more young people.
The initiative has also included equipping the institutions with new and modern equipment although enrolment is yet to pick up.
The computerised selection for national schools is based on a quota system that takes into account the top performers in each district.
But a report on secondary schools by Parliament in October called for an end to the system, arguing that students should be allowed to join schools of their choice to promote national integration.
The Parliamentary Committee on Education, Research and Technology also noted that the quota system of Form One selection in which 85 per cent of students come from the local district has promoted a cartel of students from one tribe, clan or area who could easily be influenced to riot to protect “their own.”
