Education CS George Magoha has responded to parents who have been protesting the Form One placement of their children.
While speaking to the press on Thursday, June 17, Magoha told the parents to be contented with the placement process.
He also explained that the government would ensure that all students were properly funded and that all schools in Kenya were good institutions.
"The question we have to ask ourselves is 'which one is a good school?' As far as I am concerned, a good school is any school found within the confines of the Republic of Kenya because the government gives equal amounts of Ksh22,244 to every child in whichever school.
"This has been proven when you saw sub-county schools converting 191 marks into university material. This craze of Top 10 schools must stop," stated Magoha.
He further noted that the slots in the most preferred schools were way fewer that the number of students requesting to be admitted in them.
"We cannot fit about 100,000 children in 5,000 slots so stop making noise and encourage your children. It is not the school that will make the child but their zeal and zest," added Magoha.
Magoha on Tuesday, June 15, during the launch of the Form One selection results in Nairobi, disclosed some schools unexpectedly got thousands of applicants from KCPE 2020 candidates.
Shortly after the announcement, parents began protesting that their children had not been placed in institutions they preferred.
Some claimed that the children were admitted in day schools far away from their homes noting that it would be tedious for the children to attend the institutions on a daily basis.
During the release, Magoha had noted that all the 8,091 candidates who scored 400 marks and above had been admitted to national and extra-county schools.
Some of the unexpected schools that received thousands of applications include Nanyuki Boys High School (154,524), Kabianga High School (142,000), Nyandarua High School (123,000), Nakuru High Schools (100,000), Butere High School (94,000) and Mbooni Girls (93,000).
Some of the popular schools that got thousands of applicants include; Alliance Girls High School (105,000), Pangani Girls High School (124,000), Maseno School (104,000) and Kapsaret Boys High School (95,000).
"It is important to educate our teachers that the best schools are not the ones that we are applying to, otherwise, selection becomes difficult," the CS stated.
Form One students are expected to report to school on August 2, 2021.
