Parents protest ‘unfair’ Secondary Selection
Some parents have protested what they believe to be unfair Form One placement after several students were placed in day schools hundreds of kilometres away from their homes.
Protesting parents claim that their children were summoned to schools that they had not chosen.
A 2021 KCPE student in Coast was selected to a day secondary school in the Western region after receiving 347 marks.
According to the frustrated parent, the school in Vihiga County was not among those she had chosen.
“If it was a boarding school perhaps we could consider it. But a day school in Vihiga where we do not even have relatives is out of the question. Where will my daughter stay?” said the father.
Celine Alali, a parent in western Kenya, says that her daughter has been placed in Lamu Day School while another parent in Uasin Gishu had her child from Eldoret assigned to a day school in Nakuru.
However, Basic Education PS Julius Jwan explained that the blunder could have been caused by an inaccurate recording of school codes.
The CS stated that the selection process revealed that a large number of candidates did not receive adequate guidance and direction when selecting schools.
“These are isolated cases and perhaps the codes were not properly captured. If these parents visit our sub-county offices they will be assisted,” he said.
He, on the other hand, blamed poor school selection for some of the issues raised by parents.
‘‘Sometimes a child may select big schools only and end up not getting any of them. We have to take you to any school instead of leaving you with no school so long as it’s not too far away from where the child did the exams,’’ said Dr Jwan.
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Hellen Mukami, a parent, complained that her son, who received 301 marks at White Collar Primary School in Gachie, Kiambu County, was assigned to Ndiru Secondary School in Kisumu County.
Ms Mukami stated that the school was not chosen by the student adding that the “system should not discriminate against private schools,’’ she said.
Parents protest ‘unfair’ Secondary Selection
