Alliance top choice for candidates

A total of 156,347 KCPE candidates applied to join Alliance Girls’ High School in 2014.

Director of Secondary and Tertiary Education Robert Masese, who spoke during the launch of the Form One selection at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development in Nairobi, said Alliance High School attracted 154,417 candidates, with Mangu High School receiving 148,594 requests.

Limuru Girls’ and Loreto High School received 131,739 and 105,280 applications, respectively.

Mr Masese said some national schools did not attract any applications.

POOR PERFORMANCE

“There was a tendency for all top students choosing specific schools, such that the total number of applicants far outweighed the available vacancies,” said Mr Masese.

He added that some schools had multiple Kenya National Examination Council codes while others had changed their names, thus affecting the selection.

“There were cases of centres with candidates who did not choose secondary schools,” he said.

He added that about 15,400 candidates did not get their results due to double registration, death or simply ignoring the examination.

Parliamentary Committee on Education Vice-Chairman Julius Melly asked the government to allocate more resources to newly established national schools, saying they failed to attract candidates due to bad infrastructure, lack of teachers and poor performance in national examinations.

He said in the next financial year, focus should be on employing additional teachers to address the shortage in the new national schools.