School principals from Kisumu County now want public participation done on how to conduct senior schools placements in order to avoid parents and students unnecessary problems in the future.
Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) Kisumu chairperson George Opiyo said that many parents have had to suffer untold anguish after their children were posted to schools which they did not select in the first place.
He called on the government to drop the current centralized grade 10 placement and adopt the former school based admission system.
Speaking in Kisumu, Opiyo noted that the public participation and former school based admission system will go a long way in easing the agony both parents and students are facing at the moment in terms of skewed placements.
He said the rigid placement method being applied by the ministry was tedious and a source of anguish to parents and students alike.
“School heads know what to do with admission processes in terms of space and student needs, hence the need to give them a free hand in the process.” He said
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The official said it is wrong to place students in far flung day learning institution yet they do not have guardians to stay with in those areas.
He also revealed that the Kenya Education Management Information system has locked out thousands of needy students who could have been assisted through the old model of admission, if re-adapted.
Opiyo pointed out that the former system, which used the KEMIS portal, was more transparent and helped maintain regional balance and equity across the 47 counties.
Unlike previous years, Opiyo said principals currently have no access to the Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) results of learners placed in their institutions.
“We do not know what marks or grades place a student in a national, extra-county, or county school, and we are waiting to see if merit has truly been followed. But we have fears,” he said adding “ There are high-performing students who were placed in Cluster Four (C4), previously sub-county schools with parents trying to review placements while at the same time encountering technical glitches that blocked the process, even in clear cases of mismatches.”
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He noted that some Grade 9 children who scored 67 points were placed in a local day school, but attempts to request reviews in such cases failed due to system errors.
At the same time Opiyo proposed a system that allows parents to approach schools directly to seek available vacancies, which would then be uploaded into KEMIS for Ministry approval.
He said the ministry should revert to the old system where parents could seek vacancies and principals could feed that data into the portal with approval from the ministry.
“If 100 students placed in your school don’t show up, we should be allowed to fill those spaces,” Opiyo said.
He said fellow parents are also concerned that the current placement rules lack clarity and could compromise standards at top-tier schools.
Opiyo said many parents are anxious on senior school issue since they are completely in the dark.
By Fredrick Odiero
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