School principals were once again locked out of the Form One selection process, which relied on technology to place students in secondary schools.
Today, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha will announce the national schools that the more than 30,000 top performers will attend.
The exercise will be held at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).
In placing the candidates, the team led by Director of Secondary Education Paul Kibet considered merit, equity, choice and affirmative action.
The best five candidates of either gender have been placed in national schools based on their choices to ensure the institutions represent the face of Kenya.
This means that candidates with as low as 300 out of 500 marks will get their way to national schools, especially those from marginalised areas.
Manipulation-Free
A source privy to the process told the Nation that the selection team had to adjust marks for those joining national schools after a decline in the number of candidates who scored 400 marks and above in this year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations.
“The selection is done electronically in order to minimise manipulation,” said the source, who requested anonymity.
This year, the number of candidates who scored 400 marks and above dropped to 9,770 (0.90 per cent) from 11,559 (1.10 per cent) last year.
And in order to enable candidates to select their preferred schools, the Ministry of Education in July allowed them to revise their choices based on their performance in internal examinations.
On Sunday, Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang confirmed that the selection was complete and students will know today the schools they have been selected to join.
But he declined to disclose more information on the selection, saying the results will be made public today.
Available Places
After the release of the selection results, focus will now shift to extra-county and sub-county schools, selections for which will be done between December 3 and December 5.
“The ministry has developed watertight criteria to ensure the process is fair, objective, transparent and in keeping with all forms of meritocracy,” said Prof Magoha

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