The Ministry of Education (MoE) has been put on the spot following many cases of students receiving up to 15 Form admission letters from different schools in the country.
Prospective Form One learners in Embu and Tharaka Nithi Counties for instance are spoilt for choice over the secondary schools they are supposed to join with some learners receiving up to 15 admission letters.
Majority of the would-be Form Ones have more than five admission letters with parents expressing confusion at the huge number of spaces availed forcing them to consider fees charged and other considerations to make the right decisions.
A survey carried out by Education News revealed that some parents had decided to form Whatsapp groups to get help on how to determine the right schools against the many choices offered to them.
One parents said the huge number of admission letters was forcing them to become to spend so much time doing research online about the various schools in order to make the right decisions for their children from a pool of many institutions offering them Form One places.
‘’Apart from being turned to instant researchers, we are being subjected to mental distress due to the number of letters of admission received’ ’said a parent from St Mary’s ACK Gatondo Primary school in Embu County whose child received 12 letters.
Another parent Mrs Nyagah Njoki from Kiamuringa areas in Embu whose daughter had so far received 15 letters expressed confusion at the growing number of opportunities offered but admits that due to financial constraints, she had decided that her daughter joins the nearest public government Day Secondary School.
The daughter confessed also experiencing stress over the many letters of offer with this writer collecting a huge number of those invitation documents offered to the prospective students.
Another parent, Mrs Hannie Kamanu whose daughter received 12 such letters said that the situation had opened a huge debate on various social platforms on what exactly happened this time occasioning this huge mess at MoE.
She said that discussions on the schools and the Form One spaces they offered had expanded and teachers and parents were sharing professional information as parents sought the guidance of teachers and experts on the best schools in various counties.
Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has set the reporting date for all 2024 Form One learners will be on January 15, 2024.
According to the MoE data on Form One selection,all the pupils who scored 400 marks and above will join the National Schools and Extra County schools of their choice.
Of the 38,972 candidates joining National Schools, 20,178 will be boys while the remaining 18,794 will be girls.
The data shows that a total of 228, 160 will join the various Extra-county schools while 199,027 candidates will join County Schools. Similarly, Sub-county schools, mainly Day Schools, will carry the biggest chunk of admission with 762,610 set to get admission to the institutions.
-By Robert Nyagah
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