Form One placement results to be released today, Education CS Machogu says

Form One placement results for the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination candidates will be released today.

Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu told the Nation that he will release the results of the automated Form One selection today at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development.

The Education CS assured parents that all the learners will proceed to Form One in line with the government’s 100 per cent transition policy.

“We will be releasing the Form One Selection results on Monday at exactly 10 am,” said Mr Machogu, adding that the selection was done in good time to give parents adequate time to prepare for their children’s admission.

The selection exercise was conducted by the Ministry of Education, Kenya National Examinations Council and the ICT Authority.

Parents, teachers and the 1,233,852 candidates who sat the tests have been waiting with bated breath for selection before the academic year begins on January 23. Of the total candidates, some 620,965 (50.32 per cent) were boys while 612,887 were girls.

The government has not changed Form One placement criteria, which lays emphasis on merit, equity and choice. This means the scramble for slots at national schools, even after the selection, will be experienced as has been the case in the past.

Favour public schools

With some Kenyans concerned that the selection will favour public schools, Mr Machogu said the selection process was fair to all children.

National Parents Association chairman Silas Obuhatsa called for transparency and accountability in the selection, adding that past selections disadvantaged children from private schools.

“Children should be given a chance to join schools of their choice,” Mr Obuhatsa said, urging the government to ensure children from private schools are also placed in “giant” national schools like their counterparts from public learning institutions.

“Children are equal. Any child who scored marks to join such a school should not be denied the opportunity. Parents are also equal. There are no private or public parents,” he added.

Mr Obuhatsa urged the Ministry of Education to ensure students are not placed in schools they never selected.

“Sending children to far-flung schools they never chose also needs to end,” he said.

The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) urged the ministry to be fair.

“If a child is not selected to a school of his choice, he should be given a chance to join an institution of the same category,” Kuppet Secretary-General Akelo Misori said.

Automated placement system

He lauded the automated placement system, saying it has been fair.

“An example is where more than 100,000 children selected a school that can only accommodate 600. Even if they all qualify to join the school, they cannot be admitted. The computer system, however, places them where services of the same nature can be provided,” he said.

Mr Misori said learning institutions are similar but due to stability and perceived good performance, some gain popularity among children and their parents.

A KCPE candidate selects 11 secondary schools before sitting the examination. One picks four national schools – one from each of the four clusters. For extra-county schools, the ministry uses a 15:35:50 ratio, with the host sub-county getting 15 per cent of the places, the county getting 35 per cent while candidates from other regions get 50 per cent. Candidates select three extra-county schools, and two county and two sub-county schools. Special needs institutions are categorised as national.

There are 112 national, 776 extra-county, 1,301 county, 6,297 sub-county and 1,301 private secondary schools in Kenya.