By Malachi Motano

The Cabinet Secretary (CS) for education Prof. George Magoha, dismisses parents who are saying that  Form One placement was unfair to students who scored good marks in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) as misplaced uproar saying that all students were placed in secondary schools that they merit.

“Cries that top students should have been placed in the top 10 schools nationally is misplaced and only meant to confuse students. The notion had been disapproved by last year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results where students who got 191 marks in KCPE, recorded University marks of A’s and B’s in KCSE four years later,” the CS said.

The CS was speaking in Thika where he oversaw interviews for students set to benefit from the government’s Elimu Scholarship Programme, where he said there is no way the 100,000 pupils who passed well in KCPE can all fit in the 5,000 slots in the top national schools.

“These cries that your children must be called in the top 10 schools must stop. Every school in the country is a good school, because the government gives equal amounts of Sh22, 244 to every child in whichever school the child goes to. It is not the school that will make the child, but the zeal and zest that is in the child,” he said.

However, the  CS noted that where a male child has been placed into a female school or vice versa; or where a child has been called into a day school which is too far, the issue will be rectified.