Since the release of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) results, 2021 KCPE candidates have been eagerly waiting for Form One placement results. They are set to have their anxiety allayed with the results of the placement process set to be out tomorrow.
Just like their children parents of the 2021 KCPE examination have also been anxiously waiting for the placement results while others, the early birds, have elected to move from school to school looking fr vacancies for their sons and daughters.
In the released KCPE examination, more than 1.2 million learners sat for the examination and are expected to join secondary school, in line with the government’s one hundred transitions from primary to secondary.
Schools across the country are set to reopen on the 25th of April for the first term of the new academic year.
Placement of Form 1s will not include inmates, candidates who are overage and candidates who sat for their examinations from refugee camps.
The Cabinet Secretary for Education Prof George Magoha revealed that the Form One Placement exercise was done in a free and fair manner.
He informed 2021 KCPE learners that they will be allocated schools of their choice based on how they performed in the national examination.
“In the selection process, affirmative action will be applied to ensure that learners in slum and marginalized areas are placed in good schools,” said CS Magoha.
Among the top schools that parents want their learners to join are Mang’u Boys, Pangani Girls, Starehe Boys, Kapsabet Boys, Alliance Boys, Alliance Girls and Kenya High school among others which have built their reputation by performing excellently in the past Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) national examinations.
Besides the above schools, some parents are also hoping that their learners are placed in schools that have been recently elevated to the status of extra-county or national schools within their regions.
A few days ago in the past week, CS Magoha surprised many when he said that candidates who attained 400 marks and above may not be placed in national schools.
Prof Magoha also revealed that the placement criteria may be modified to consider candidates from areas that are marginalized with learners competing for just 30,000 slots in national schools.
Besides, he revealed that both public and private schools will share the few national schools in an equal ratio of 50:50.
This was after private schools called for fairness in the way KCPE marking is done as well as Form One placement.
In previous years, some learners have been caught by surprise when they realize that despite performing well, they have not been allocated to the schools they thought they merited to join based on their performance in the KCPE examination.
Malice by schools has also been reported when they turn away learners who have been placed in those schools forcing the Ministry of Education to take the necessary action.
In last year’s exercise, 36,254 candidates were placed in national schools, 201,077 in extra county schools, 1.2 million in county schools and a further 1,827 in special needs schools and 718,516 placed in sub-county schools.