Teachers from category 4 (C4) senior schools also known as sub county schools have started a frantic search for Grade 10 learners.
This is after their schools recorded very low Grade 10 admission. Senior schools have now resorted to sending their teachers to primary schools to follow up for admission Grade 10 learners who have not reported.
The Education Cabinet Secretary, Julius Ogamba, extended the Grade 10 admission exercise to Wednesday, January 21 citing bid for 100% transition.
Many C4 senior schools are struggling with admission as learners join C1, C2 and C3 schools.
CS Ogamba admitted that the ministry had recorded low turnout in several C4 schools after as data show 3,000 C4 schools were never chosen during selection exercise.
“This was expected, as some of these schools were never chosen by any candidate at all during the selection process, so we have to decide what to do with them,” Ogamba said during a media interview.
A total of 1,130,459 Grade 9 candidates sat the inaugural Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) in 2025, with those categorised as Approaching Expectation and above qualifying to transition to Grade 10.
At the close of phase one of the review of placement results on December 29, Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok revealed that 68,000 placement change requests had been rejected, most of them targeting a small cluster of national schools with limited capacity.
Currently, there are only 105 national schools, each with an average enrolment capacity of about 500 learners.
The surge in applications to top-tier schools resulted in some C4 institutions receiving negligible to zero admissions of Grade 10 learners, raising fears that such schools could face imminent closure once the final cohort under the 8-4-4 system sits the KCSE in 2027.
The Ministry of Education has proposed to elevate about 1,000 day senior secondary schools to national status.
CS Ogamba revealed last week that the proposal was informed by low enrolment of Grade 10 learners in Category Four (C4) schools following the transition of the first cohort under the Competency-Based Education (CBE) system to senior school from January 12.
The broader plan, the CS said, is to ensure that every ward in the country has a senior school of national status, translating to about 1,450 Category One (C1) institutions.
He noted that a final decision would be made after assessing feedback from principals on reporting rates at the close of Grade 10 admissions, which were initially scheduled for January 16, but extended to accommodate learners facing challenges.
School heads are now urging the government to intervene and save Category Four schools, formerly sub-county schools, from imminent closure.
This is as thousands of parents scramble for placement in Category One and Category Two senior schools, leaving Category Four ones in dire state.
In Machakos County, some schools have enrolled only three or four Grade 10 students three days into the admission process.
Kyeni Baptist, with a capacity of 90 students, has received only three learners. Kasinga Secondary, which has a capacity of 150 learners, has so far admitted only four learners, with no single learner turning up at Kiima Kimwe.
Johnbosco Kioko, Kasinga Secondary School headteacher, said: “The four students I have admitted are not ready to settle in class. They are lacking one or two things, and others are coming to look at how the school is and where it is so that they can go back, then prepare to come back.”
The Ministry of Education had placed 96 learners at Kasinga Secondary School despite the school having three streams with a total capacity of 150 students.
The headteacher blames the dismal turnout on the new method of placement, as most of those placed at the school were from far-flung areas.
“Kasinga is a full day school. My students who have been placed on the portal are from Kajiado, Kathiani, Kangundo, Mwala, in the city, and apparently I talked to a parent who tells me he is in Malindi and a child has been placed in Kasinga, where I do not have boarding facilities,” stated Mr. Kioko.
