Starting tomorrow, a rude awakening awaits many private schools that have spent the last few days circulating flashy posters and summarized tables of KJSEA results. The posters are loud, colourful and confident. They boldly announce that none of their learners scored below Exceeding or Meeting Expectations. They speak the language of victory, superiority and dominance. Yet beneath the gloss lies a profound misunderstanding of the new education architecture. The shock will come when these schools realise that placement to senior school will not be guided by the raw performance indicators they are proudly brandishing.
Unlike the old 8-4-4 system, where marks and grades almost single-handedly determined progression, placement under CBC is deliberately more complex and more humane. The government has opted to use the County Revenue Allocation formula, the same framework used to distribute funds among the 47 counties. This formula takes into account population, learner performance, poverty levels, distance to school, school size and infrastructure. In other words, placement is not just about how well a learner performed, but also about where that learner comes from and the conditions under which learning has taken place.
For private schools that remain trapped in an exam-centred worldview, this approach feels like punishment. Yet it is entirely consistent with the philosophy of CBC. Education under CBC is not a race designed to reward advantage; it is a national project aimed at equity, inclusion and access. The CRA formula exists to level the playing field, not to flatten excellence, but to recognise that opportunity in Kenya is unevenly distributed. A learner excelling in a marginalised setting carries a different educational weight from one excelling in a resource-rich environment.
Many private junior schools are about to discover how little they understand CBC beyond assessment performance. Their posters suggest that education ends at results. They have reduced learning to descriptors and converted learner achievement into marketing capital. In doing so, they have missed the bigger picture. CBC is not obsessed with identifying the best schools; it is focused on supporting the learner within their social and economic reality. Placement decisions, therefore, must reflect that broader mandate.
Learners from private junior schools are likely to be the most affected, not because they performed poorly, but because the system no longer privileges privilege. Many of these learners come from urban, well-served areas with dense school networks, strong infrastructure and minimal distance challenges. Under the CRA formula, such contexts do not attract additional placement consideration. Meanwhile, learners from rural, arid and semi-arid regions, informal settlements and underserved communities gain recognition for overcoming systemic barriers. This is not an error; it is policy by design.
The irony is painful. Schools that invested energy in preparing posters instead of understanding policy will now accuse the system of unfairness. Yet the unfairness lay in the old model, where a single exam could override years of structural disadvantage. CBC, through CRA-informed placement, is attempting to correct that historical injustice. Performance still matters, but it no longer speaks alone. It speaks alongside context, access and opportunity.
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What makes this moment particularly revealing is how it exposes lingering ignorance within sections of the private school sector. Many institutions adopted CBC mechanically, replacing syllabi and textbooks without abandoning old habits. They continued to run schools the 8-4-4 way: ranking learners, pressuring teachers, rehearsing assessments and celebrating outcomes rather than growth. The posters they produced after KJSEA results are evidence of that failure to transition mentally and philosophically.
The CRA formula reminds schools of an uncomfortable truth: education policy does not exist to validate school brands. It exists to serve national interests. Placement to senior school is about balancing quality, equity and access across the country. It is about ensuring that senior schools do not become enclaves of privilege while others are starved of opportunity. The system is signalling clearly that raw performance, stripped of context, is insufficient.
This moment should prompt serious reflection. Schools must ask themselves whether they are educating learners for life or merely training them to look good on paper. They must question why they felt compelled to advertise results instead of celebrating learners quietly and meaningfully. They must confront how little effort they have put into understanding CBC as a whole, including its social justice orientation.
For parents, the shock may be even deeper. Many chose private schools believing that superior results guaranteed superior placement. That promise, whether explicit or implied, no longer holds. Placement is no longer a private negotiation between marks and prestige. It is a public process guided by national priorities. Parents will need honest conversations, not defensive explanations.
The use of the CRA formula does not diminish excellence; it contextualises it. It does not punish private school learners; it simply refuses to privilege them automatically. Those who understand CBC will accept this as progress. Those who do not will feel blindsided.
The posters will fade. The shock will settle. What remains is a choice. Schools can either continue clinging to an outdated results culture or finally embrace the full logic of CBC. That logic insists that education is not just about who performs best, but about who needs opportunity most. The sooner schools understand this, the less shocked they will be by what tomorrow brings.
By Ashford Kimani
Ashford teaches English and Literature in Gatundu North Sub-county and serves as Dean of Studies.
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