More than 161,000 pupils who sat the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam this year will not secure a place in secondary school.
Speaking during the launch of the Form One selection yesterday, Education Cabinet secretary Fred Matiang’i said that, although the transition rate from primary to secondary school has improved from 82.05 per cent in 2016 to 83.93 per cent next year, 161,341 out of 942,021 who sat the transition exam would not move to the next level.
The CS said the number of Form One places nationally had grown by about 30,000 in the past year, leading to an increase in the number of Form One places from 759,603 last year to 790,680.
Matiang’i said the ministry would work out ways to ensure a 100 per cent transition rate is attained. “We are in consultation with education stakeholders to explore modalities of attaining 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school,” said the CS. He encouraged pupils who missed slots that the government has set up alternative routes to higher education and training that can eventually lead to university education.
“The good news is that the government has invested heavily in the expansion of training opportunities in polytechnics and TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) institutions,” he said. The CS said 790,680 candidates had secured places in Form One with 24,795 already admitted to 103 national schools.
Of those admitted to national schools, 5,808 candidates, including 63 Special Needs Education pupils, have been placed in national schools of their choice. Extra County schools, which have also been assigned students for Form One along with national schools for the first time, will admit 65,331 students while county schools are expected to take in 133, 785.
Transmission of admission letters for national and extra-county schools has been digitised. Admission letters can be instantaneously obtained at the Ministry’s website www.education.go.ke. Students can also send their index numbers to 20042 to know the secondary schools they have been selected to join.
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