A fresh Ministry of Education (MoE) analysis has highlighted stark inequalities in the placement and distribution of public senior schools nationwide, raising concern over equitable access to quality education under the Competency-Based Education (CBE) system.
While some regions maintain strong clusters of high-performing schools, arid and remote counties remain notably underserved, reinforcing existing disparities.
Kenya’s school landscape is organized across four clusters: 204 national schools (Cluster One), 692 extra-county (Cluster Two), 1,373 county (Cluster Three), and 7,234 sub-county schools (Cluster Four), the lowest-performing tier.
Rift Valley anchors the system with 56 national, 189 extra-county, 408 county, and 2,054 sub-county schools, signalling both scale and reach.
The Central Region has 33 national, 101 extra-county, 141 county, and 888 sub-county schools, indicating a heavier reliance on sub-county institutions despite a stronger presence at the top tier.
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Eastern underscores the gap most sharply, pairing 33 national schools with 1,560 sub-county schools; this is the second-highest sub-county total after Rift Valley.
Nyanza counts 31 national, 114 extra-county, 195 county, and 1,299 sub-county schools, while Western accounts for 18 national, 80 extra-county, 184 county, and 852 sub-county schools.
Coast lists 17 national, 36 extra-county, 55 county, and 392 sub-county schools. Northern has the fewest high-tier institutions, six national, 13 extra-county, 47 county, and 120 sub-county schools, reflecting limited access in sparsely populated areas.
Nairobi accounts for 10 national, 17 extra-county, 12 county, and 69 sub-county schools; this mirrors land constraints and a higher reliance on private provision in the capital.
To manage placements fairly, the ministry applies the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) formula, balancing population, school capacity, learner performance, poverty levels and distance to schools.
Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok said the approach is designed to ensure a child from Northern Kenya has the same opportunity as one from Western Kenya to join a school in Nairobi or elsewhere.
“To ensure fairness, we have adopted the CRA formula to distribute students from all counties fairly across the four school clusters. This ensures that a child from Northern Kenya has the same opportunity as one from Western Kenya to join a school in Nairobi or elsewhere,” Bitok said as quoted by one of the local dailies
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Learner distribution further reveals pathway imbalances. Some 512,000 students were placed in STEM, 420,000 in Social Sciences, and 115,000 in Arts and Sports. By cluster, enrollments were 105,000 in Cluster One, 254,000 in Cluster Two, 288,000 in Cluster Three, and 399,000 in Cluster Four, highlighting the weight borne by lower-tier schools.
Selection factors include learner preferences, KJSEA scores and available spaces, with students allowed to choose up to 12 schools (C1 to C4) in consultation with parents and teachers.
To refine entries and correct errors such as wrong gender or misaligned choices, the ministry has opened a seven-day review period, aiming to align placements with capacity, performance and learner aspirations within the national transition calendar.
By Masaki Enock
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