Over 300,000 yet to take up their Form One slots

More than 300,000 pupils who sat the Standard Eight examination last year have not taken up their Form One places, dealing a huge blow to the government’s objective 100 percent transition target.

Though the figure is based on the admission numbers by the end of last week and is likely to go up after the reporting deadline was extended by a week, it signifies that transition from primary to secondary school remains a major challenge.

Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed told the National Assembly’s Committee on Education yesterday that 309,700 pupils are not in school.

By close of business last Friday, she said, 70 percent of the 1,032,334 students had reported to school. Last year’s transition rate was 83.93 percent of 942,021 candidates.

FUNDING

The government introduced the universal transition programme last year, hoping to have all learners achieve basic education.

It has doubled capitation to students in secondary schools to Sh22,244 per student in public schools, raising the allocation to about Sh32 billion.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has recruited 8,672 teachers to support the transition drive, but it still requires 40,000 more.

The government has also promised to give schools Sh16 billion to improve infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Ms Mohamed confirmed that Treasury has released Sh1.5 billion for the development of infrastructure in schools.

She said the money will help schools deal with the high enrolment.

REPORT

The ministry will allocate Sh6,000 to each student for infrastructure in day secondary schools while those in boarding schools will be allocated Sh8,000.

“The money we have received from the ministry will target mainly small schools. Schools with up to 1,000 students will receive Sh6 million every year for maintenance and improvement of infrastructure,” she said.

Ms Mohamed told the committee chaired by Tinderet MP Julius Meli that the ministry will give a comprehensive report on the state of admission after the expiry of today’s deadline in two weeks’ time.

“The status of Form One admissions as per Friday, January 11, 2019, at national level was 70 percent. The ministry undertakes to compile full details of the admissions at all levels - including county and sub-county within two weeks,” Ms Amina told the MPs.

“The ministry is determined to ensure Form One students report to school as early as possible to embark on their studies,” she said.

NEMIS

The CS defended the selections using the National Education Management Information System (Nemis) system, saying it is fair and accurate.

“All candidates had an equal chance of getting selected to their preferred schools based on merit, equity, choice and affirmative action,” she said.

The figures she presented showed that 31,337 candidates were selected to join national schools, 128,838 extra county schools, 148,215 county schools, 722,318 sub-county schools and 1,626 special needs school.