200,000 to miss Form One places

Jonathan Koskei from St Marys school, Nairobi celebrates with his teachers and relatives after the release of the 2013 KCPE exam results. He scored 442 marks out of 500 ranking him position 3 Nationally and 1 in Nairobi. He is among the lucky candidates who will secure a place in Form One. Only candidates who scored more than 200 marks are assured of space in the 6,163 secondary schools available in the country. PHOTO/ANN KAMONI  NATION

In Summary

• Only candidates who scored more than 200 marks are assured of space in the 6,163 secondary schools available in the country.
• Competition for national schools still remains tight even after elevation of 27 county schools to that category as Prof Kaimenyi put on hold their selection of top candidates until this year (2014).
• The top boy and girl in each county will automatically join their national schools of choice.

 

By MARYANNE GICOBI
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Close to 200,000 candidates who sat the 2013 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exam will miss Form One places when the selection starts in two weeks time.

Only candidates who scored more than 200 marks are assured of space in the 6,163 secondary schools available in the country.

While releasing the results Tuesday, Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi urged candidates who will miss space to join vocational schools.

Competition for national schools still remains tight even after elevation of 27 county schools to that category as Prof Kaimenyi put on hold their selection of top candidates until this year (2014).

This also means that the number joining the 78 national schools will remain 16,000 like last year’s.

The selection that is set to start on January 14, 2014 will begin with national schools, which admit students from all parts of the country.

County and district schools will follow.

40 per cent of the slots in county schools will be reserved for candidates from the schools’ host counties, a further 40 per cent for candidates from other counties and 20 per cent for candidates from the host district.

There are five schools that are allowed to select their new students before the actual selection date.

These are Starehe Boys Centre, Starehe Girls, Moi Forces Academy Nairobi, Moi Forces Lanet and Utumishi Academy.

Vacancies in these schools are preferentially given to candidates from humble backgrounds and those whose parents serve in the uniformed forces and the public service.

The top boy and girl in each county will automatically join their national schools of choice.

The selection will still use the contentious system them favours candidates from public schools.

This system allows public schools, which register the majority of candidates, to take the lion’s share of slots in national schools.

Candidates from private academies who wish to join these prestigious schools are required to score top marks.

All candidates are allowed to choose four national schools when registering for their KCPE examinations.

They also choose three county schools. Of these, two must be from within their counties, while one is selected from other regions.

Schools are required to take up 45 new students per stream.

When releasing the results, Prof Kaimenyi said this year’s transition rate would be higher than previous years— at 70 per cent.