- Under the proposal, admissions would be determined by a school’s actual capacity to deliver quality education rather than by public demand or reputation
- The proposal would compel the Ministry of Education to adopt a structured admission framework limiting intake across all categories of senior schools.
Members of Parliament have tabled a proposal to cap the number of learners each senior school can admit from January 2027, when Kenya’s first Grade 9 cohort transitions to Grade 10 under the Competency-Based Education (CBE) system.
The proposal, tabled in the National Assembly by Kitutu Masaba MP Clive Gisairo, would compel the Ministry of Education to adopt a structured admission framework limiting intake across all categories of senior schools.
The motion is aimed at heading off a problem lawmakers say the new system risks inheriting from the old 8-4-4 structure: a handful of prestigious schools absorbing thousands of learners beyond capacity while many others remain under-enrolled. Gisairo argues this imbalance has already produced overcrowded classrooms, overstretched laboratories, congested dormitories and strained sanitation facilities in the country’s most sought-after institutions, with some schools converting halls into classrooms to cope with demand.
Under the proposal, admissions would be determined by a school’s actual capacity to deliver quality education rather than by public demand or reputation.
How the Caps Would Work
The motion sets out stream limits by school category, with each stream capped at 40 learners: Category One schools would take a maximum of ten streams, Category Two schools eight streams, Category Three schools five streams, and Category Four schools three streams. If passed, this would be among the most significant structural changes yet introduced under CBE, reshaping how learners are distributed nationally.
Infrastructure and Funding Demands
Beyond the admission limits, the motion calls on the Ministry of Education to accelerate investment in classrooms, laboratories, ICT facilities, workshops, libraries, boarding amenities and sanitation infrastructure, with particular emphasis on Category Three and Four schools. MPs argue that strengthening these institutions would ease pressure on elite schools and encourage more balanced learner placement nationwide.
The motion also urges a review of the capitation model to align funding with the proposed framework, which Parliament says would allow schools to deliver quality education regardless of category or location.
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Supporters say an admission cap would improve learner-teacher ratios, ease congestion, and raise academic outcomes by keeping schools within manageable enrolment levels, while also encouraging more even development across the sector. Critics counter that capping admissions alone will not solve the sector’s problems unless matched by faster investment in infrastructure, teacher recruitment and learning resources, and some maintain that parents’ freedom to choose schools should be preserved wherever institutions have capacity to accommodate them.
The proposal remains a parliamentary motion and must still be debated and approved by the National Assembly before the Ministry of Education can implement it. Until then, the current transition framework stands as schools prepare to receive the first cohort of Grade 9 learners into Senior School in January 2027.
If eventually enacted, the proposed cap on senior school admissions could redefine learner placement under the Competency-Based Education system, ease congestion in popular schools, promote equitable access to quality education and lay the foundation for a more balanced, efficient and sustainable senior school admission framework.
By Hillary Muhalya
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