Matiang’i breaks tradition, announces Form One students to report in January

Form One students will now report to their respective schools on January 9, 2017.

This is the announcement by Education Cabinet Secretary, Dr Fred Matiang’i, during the releasing of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination results on Thursday, December 1 at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) in Nairobi.

Traditionally, Form One students have reported to their respective schools in February.

The CS said that unlike in the previous years where the selection process was carried out the following year, the process would commence immediately.

“The selection of Form One students begins immediately. We are not going to wait until the following year like previously,” noted Dr Matiang’i.

The CS sad that on December 9, the Ministry of Education officials would assemble at the same venue (KICD) to complete the selection process, especially of the students joining national schools.

He noted that despite there being a significant drop in the performance of the pupils this year, the exams were highly credible with only 21 cases of malpractices or attempted malpractices being experienced.

Over 950,000 pupils wrote the 2016 KCPE exam early November.

Last year, the Ministry of Education issued new guidelines on the selection process.

Releasing the guidelines last year, Education Principal Secretary, Belio Kipsang, wrote to County Directors of Education and secondary school heads saying that the selection process would be on merit, equity and choice of schools.

He said that five top boys and girls in every sub-county would be placed in national schools of their choice.

“The top three candidates will be selected first across all sub-counties and then the remaining two according to their marks because there are areas with very few students hence the equity requirement,” he said.

Other pupils in every sub-county would be selected according to their marks between public and private schools.

Candidates who are not admitted to schools of their choice will be placed in schools of comparable level of performance.