Private school investors gain in new intake rules

Candidates sitting the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination this year will be admitted to national secondary schools under a new criteria meant to level the playing field for pupils in public and private schools.

The new admission criteria, expected to be in place until the Education Act is aligned to the Constitution, will also see more spaces in a national school offered to pupils from its vicinity.

Education permanent secretary James ole Kiyiapi said that 20 per cent of places in national schools would be taken by pupils who sat the exam in the district hosting the national school, 40 per cent from the host county, and the rest from across the country.

“Students to be admitted into the national schools next year will be picked from the district, from the county, and from around the country,” said Prof ole Kiyiapi.

He said the criteria would keep changing over time until the education laws are aligned to the Constitution.

“National schools are likely to disappear and we may only have a few special national academies,” he said.

The 20:40:40 ratio appears meant to satisfy concerns by sponsors of provincial schools that were this year upgraded to national status that the pupils from the respective regions would be denied places in quality schools.

The upgrade of 30 schools will give up to 10,000 pupils space in national schools, compared to 3,000 in 2009 and 4,200 last year. That means candidates who manage 390 marks and above, going by last year’s performance, will get admitted to a national school, barring the sentimental matter of a school’s stature.

The government has disbursed Sh375 million — or Sh12.5 million to each of the upgraded secondary schools — for facility improvement.

The change in the selection criteria follows the determination of a court case that private schools had filed challenging the decision by Ministry of Education officials to allot more spaces in national schools to pupils from public schools. (Read: Private schools lose lustre in new Form One selection rules)

The criteria used in the selection in January comprised individual performance, the school, district, and its population size. Previously, admissions were purely based on merit with only district quotas being observed.

Private investors, under the Kenya Private Schools Association (KPSA), went to court seeking a reversal of the policy on the ground that it denied children equal opportunities.

The association lost the case on Friday last week and has said it will not appeal the decision in view of the expanded capacity in national schools and the new criteria. (Read: Private schools lose bid to halt Form One intake)

“We believe there will be significant places in national schools come January. What we are keen on is the final criteria to be used in the selection process,” said Mr John Mwai, the chairman of KPSA.

The change in admission criteria in January saw a significant number of qualified students from private primary schools locked out in favour of those from public schools in an affirmative vote.

This saw public primary schools send 3,000 students or two-thirds of admissions into the national secondary schools, more than halving the share of learners drawn from private institutions to 1,500 students.

The reduced share of private primary schools forced some parents to transfer their children to public primary schools to give them a higher chance of joining national schools. This would have overtime discouraged investments in private schools. Prof Kiyiapi, however, ruled out the return to an all-merit selection system in the medium term.

“Merit must always be tempered with other factors. We need to create inclusivity in our culture otherwise we run the risk of creating two parallel nations,” he said.

Thirty more provincial schools are set for promotion next year and two national schools are planned for each county in the next four years, raising the number of national schools from 18 to 94.

Concerns over quality of the free primary education (FPE) offered in public schools has seen increasingly more parents prefer to take their children to private schools, meaning the class struggle during admissions may linger for a while.

“The government cannot meet demand for quality education on its own. What we need is for parents to be empowered to afford school fees in private institutions,” Mr Mwai said.

Student to teacher ratio rose from 38:1 in 2003 when FPE was introduced to 46:1 in 2009, meaning there are fewer teachers to cater for the growing number of students. The ratio ranges between 15:1 and 30:1 in private schools.

The cost to a family with one child attending a middle or up-market private primary school in Nairobi starts from Sh90,000 per year.

Analysts say the government should quickly address the quality of learning in public schools in an effort to return to a pure merit-based selection process across the education hierarchy.

“We should support the unhindered development of qualified Kenyan talent. What the government needs to address is the quality of learning in public schools or subsidising the cost of private education,” Prof Kieyah said.

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