Hundreds of anxious parents were turned away at Starehe Boys Centre on Friday after their children’s names could not be found in the school’s admission list.
Only parents carrying the school’s admission letter were allowed to access the administration block, and only after their children’s names were verified against a list at the gate.
This comes amid mounting confusion among parents whose children were initially placed at Starehe as per the Ministry of Education placement portal, only to later discover that the admission letters they downloaded bore the names of entirely different schools.
“What the director has said is that this is not our problem, but the ministry’s, because we have been doing our processes over the years without any such hitches,” said an a member of staff at the school.
A parent whose child had scored 70 points in the Kenya Junior School Education Assessment and had initially been placed at Starehe Boys was shocked to find the child had been transferred to Kagumo High School in Nyeri, despite not seeking the review.
Another, whose child scored 71 points and had initially been placed at Starehe Boys was disappointed to find the child has been posted to Moi High Mbiruri in Embu.
A group of parents outside Starehe Boys Centre and School on January 2, 2025 where they had gone to seek clarity on the admission of their children for Grade 10.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
“When the placement results showed my son was placed at Starehe, I relaxed because that was our first choice. The next time I visited the portal, I was stunned on what it showed. The problem is that my child’s mind was set for Starehe,” said a parent.
Another parent, whose child had initially been placed at Starehe, downloaded the letter to find child has been posted to a school in Kisii and yet the family resides in Kirinyaga.
A similar script played out at Starehe Girls’ Centre. A parent whose child scored 72 points and was initially placed at the school was stunned to find that she had been posted to a local day school.
“I tried to reach my sub-county director of education, she says they, too, are incapable of handling the Starehe issue since it operates like a private entity. But my question is, why send such a brain to a local day school?” asked the parent.
Starehe Girls Centre has since issued a statement saying it successfully concluded the selection process for the 2026 senior school intake on December 28, 2025, admitting 400 girls to join Grade 10.
“The trustees and management of Starehe Girls Centre regret the confusion that arose due to the earlier allocation of students without following this process, but this has now been resolved,”read the statement by the institution’s management.
Admission to both schools is determined by each centre based on the needs of the learners assessed from information in the “Yellow Form” for Starehe Boys and the “Blue Form” for Starehe Girls. Need is the primary basis for admission.
Admissions adhere to the 70:30 ratio, where 70 per cent of learners from economically disadvantaged backgrounds are fully sponsored, and 30 per cent are self-sponsored.
