Relief for city schools in Form One selection
KCPE candidates in private schools in Nairobi now have a fair chance of joining national schools according to new guidelines for Form One selection.
Top candidates in each district are assured of a place in the national schools, while the rest will fight it out using the pro rata system.
Under the new guidelines, former provincial schools will also admit students from across the country when the selection starts on January 14.
The guidelines were issued through a circular by the Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang.
Kipsang said: “These guidelines are meant to ensure proportionate sharing of national secondary school slots between public and private primary schools.”
Private schools have in the last two years raised concern regarding the Form One selection system, which they say, favors public schools at the expense of performance.
Private schools produce the lion’s share of top performing KCPE candidates in the country.
In the new guidelines, private schools are likely to dominate slots for national schools at a ratio of 2:1 over public schools.
The previous quota system introduced in 2011, only 25 per cent of all candidates from private schools made it to public secondary schools.