More than 50 per cent of secondary schools not selected by Grade 10 learners, PS Bitok reveals

More than half of secondary schools across the country were not selected by learners joining Grade 10 under the new curriculum, Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok has revealed.

Speaking on Thursday during the Safaricom M-Pesa 2025 Education Summit in Nairobi, Bitok disclosed that out of 9,750 secondary schools, over 5,000 failed to attract any of the 1.2 million learners transitioning to Grade 10.

“We realised that there are gaps in our secondary school sector. Of the 9,750 secondary schools in Kenya, 5,000 were not selected by any learner. None of the 1.2 million learners chose these 5,000 schools,” Bitok said.

He attributed the situation to factors such as school preference and locality, explaining that the trend is a source of concern for the Ministry.

“This is because some learners do not prefer them,” he said, noting that the issue presents logistical and planning challenges for the ministry and school administrators.

Bitok noted that the Ministry is working to ensure a smooth transition for the 1.2 million learners joining Grade 10 in January 2026, following their completion of Grade 9 later this year.

The PS also pointed out that although reasons behind the low selection rates were not fully detailed, infrastructure gaps, school performance, location and perceived prestige were likely influencing factors in learner and parent choices.

He stressed the need to address inequalities in the education sector.

“We must ensure all schools are adequately resourced to attract and retain learners,” he said.

The learners will sit their Kenya Junior Secondary Education Assessment (KJSEA) between October 27 and November 5, 2025, to determine their placement into senior school and chosen career pathways.

Senior school, which covers Grades 10 to 12, will officially commence in January 2026, marking the transition for the pioneer Grade 9 cohort.

Senior schools will be categorised into four areas, including pathways, accommodation, gender and special needs.

The pathways are divided into double pathway senior schools, offering Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Arts & Sports Science (STEAMS), and triple pathway schools covering STEM, Arts & Sports, and Social Sciences.

Accommodation categories will include day senior schools for commuting learners and hybrid senior schools catering to both boarders and day scholars.

Gender categories will consist of single-sex schools (girls-only and boys-only) and mixed-sex schools, while special needs senior schools will be classified as hearing-impaired, visually impaired, physically impaired, and vocational schools catering for learners with autism, cerebral palsy, cognitive difficulties and deaf-blind conditions.

On pathway selection, learners were required to choose 12 schools: four for their first-choice track and subject combination, four for the second-choice combination, and four for the third choice. According to the Ministry of Education guidelines, out of the 12 selected schools, nine were to be boarding schools and three day schools. Of the nine boarding schools, three were to be within the learners’ home county, while six were to be selected from outside their home county.

It noted that placement will be determined by learners’ choices, merit, psychometric tests, equity, and school capacity.

“Admission letters shall be accessed online using the learner’s assessment number, with both public and private schools admitting Grade 10 learners through the Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS),” the Ministry said.

The Ministry further clarified that no principal will be allowed to enter a learner into KEMIS before physical reporting, adding that daily online reporting will be monitored.

For transfers and replacements, learners wishing to change schools must apply through junior school heads at least two weeks before reporting.

“Priority shall be given to those who had initially selected the school,” the Ministry said.

It emphasised that once a replacement request is approved, joining instructions will be issued online, with no printed letters allowed for replacement cases.

An automated placement system will factor in student interest, teacher input and academic performance.

During the summit, Bitok reaffirmed the government’s commitment to education reforms under the Competency-Based Education (CBE) model.

“We are keen on building an inclusive, equitable and skills-driven system anchored on practical learning, values and learner needs,” he said.

Bitok highlighted government efforts, including recruiting over 76,000 teachers and plans to hire 24,000 more in the current financial year, construction of 13,000 classrooms, and the ongoing rollout of 1,600 science laboratories.

“Digital learning is at the heart of our strategy. We have distributed over 1.2 million devices to public schools and trained more than 90,000 teachers in ICT integration,” he said.

Bitok also mentioned the expansion of platforms such as the Kenya Education Cloud and eLimu to broaden digital content access. He emphasised that systems like KEMIS and AI are being integrated to drive data-driven planning, teacher deployment and personalised learning.