After 1,233,852 candidates sat for KCPE and results were announced, Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu affirmed that the selection process would be done by Tuesday, January 17.
Speaking to the press, Machogu noted that the Ministry of Education used a computer-generated placement system that is based on performance, choice and capacity of a particular institution.
Affirmative action, especially in national schools, is also applied to enable fairness among the disadvantaged.
“Form One selection is computerised. That is what we used,” he told Nation.
National Parents Association Chairman, Silas Obuhatsa, however, urged the government to enable equality among students drawn from private and public schools.
In particular, he pointed out that the Form One Selection criteria favoured students from public schools, and subsequently disadvantaged those in private schools.
The chairman called for bright students from private schools not to be denied a chance to be posted in national schools.
"We call for fairness in the selection that is solely conducted by the Ministry of Education. Children should be given a chance to join schools of their choice. Parents need to be involved in the exercise in the future,” he noted.
Obuhatsa also urged the Ministry of Education to place students in schools that they selected, factoring in proximity to the school and travel expenses.
"Sending children to far-flung schools they never chose also needs to end,” he pointed out.
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Secretary-General Akelo Misori also echoed Obuhatsa's remarks, calling for the Ministry of Education to ensure that the criteria are based on a candidate's choice and performance.
"If a child is not selected to a school of his choice, he should be given a chance to join an institution of the same category. The criterion is according to the candidate’s choices and merit,” he noted.
In the past, CS Machogu has reiterated the government's commitment to the 100 percent transition policy.
