The Ministry of Education has explained why a special group of students who sit for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) are never placed in high schools.
Basic Education Principal Secretary, Julius Jwan, stated that 4,334 KCPE candidates who sat their exams this year have not been placed in high schools by the government.
The students sat their exams either in prisons or as private candidates, hence the government cannot place them in secondary schools.
So far, the Ministry of Education noted that 1,209,697 candidates have been placed in high schools. The PS did not give a way forward for the learners who did not secure slots in high school.
Every year, a number of learners register to sit for the KCPE exams as private candidates. The government in an effort to boost education allows inmates to also expand their knowledge while serving their sentences.
An inmate at the Kakamega Women's Prison came into the limelight after scoring 402 in the KCPE exams. Amelia Jacobeth Liabule is facing a jail term over a murder charge.
A 28-year-old inmate at the Manyani Maximum Security Prison in Taita Taveta who scored 401 marks in the KCPE exams also made headlines.
Juma Nyasi was later acquitted by the High Court after new evidence showed that he was wrongly convicted.
This was the second time Nyasi sat for the KCPE. He told the press that he was forced to drop out of secondary school in Form Two due to a lack of school fees.
While the future of these inmates hangs in the balance, top KCPE candidates who scored between 425 and 428 marks were placed in national schools.
Magata Bruce Mackenzie and George Morris Otieno, who scored 428 and 425 KCPE marks respectively, were placed at Alliance High School.
Momanyi Ashley Kerubo, who scored 427, Wekesa Naomi Neema who scored 426 marks and Kwoma Charity Buyanzi who attained 426 marks were all placed at the Kenya High School.
