The government has extended the deadline for Grade 10 admissions to Wednesday, January 21, in a bid to ensure no learner is left behind as senior school reporting continues to lag under the Competency‑Based Education (CBE) system.
In an interview with one of the local dailies on January 16th, education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos Ogamba confirmed the extension, saying the move is intended to support a 100 per cent transition to senior school and accommodate ongoing placement reviews.
“We have found it necessary to extend the Grade 10 admission deadline to Wednesday next week to ensure no learner is left out, except in critical cases involving clear placement errors,” Ogamba said.
Latest MoE data shows that reporting remains slow, with only 301,701 learners in school by midweek, just over a quarter of the 1,130,701 candidates who sat the 2025 Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA).
Of those who have reported, 151,740 are boys (50.3 percent) and 149,961 are girls (49.7 percent), reflecting near parity in gender distribution among early reporters.
The ministry attributed the low turnout to an ongoing review window that drew applications from more than 300,000 learners seeking reassessment of their scores and placements.
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Ogamba said the review process, initially expected to conclude by Friday, is still underway and has delayed some reporting as decisions are finalized. He noted that the ministry is working to complete the reviews to allow learners to proceed to their assigned senior schools without further disruption.
Officials data indicates that approximately 830,000 Grade 10 learners have yet to report, underscoring the scale of the transition challenge.
The extension is expected to ease pressure on families and schools while the ministry resolves pending placement queries and clears bottlenecks in the review pipeline.
Ogamba reiterated that the extension is a targeted measure to protect learners from missing out due to administrative delays, and emphasized that only cases involving clear placement errors will be considered for exceptions beyond the new deadline. He urged parents and guardians to prepare learners to report promptly once reviews are concluded, and called on schools to facilitate smooth admissions in line with CBE transition requirements.
MoE said it will continue monitoring daily reporting trends and provide updates as the review outcomes are communicated.
By Masaki Enock
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