The government has unveiled a mop up campaign to trace Form one students who are yet to report to secondary schools.
The official reporting dates for all Form one students had been scheduled between January 13th to 24th, 2020 and by 12 pm Friday, only 852, 000 learners out of the 1,075,000 candidates who sat for the 2019 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education had reported to secondary schools countrywide.
Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha said he has consulted with the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government and the Teachers Service Commission and agreed to work jointly in the mop up campaign launched on Friday.
The CS, who was speaking at State House Girls where he launched the countrywide Mop up Campaign, announced that some counties have already hit the 100 percent transition mark to secondary schools.
State House Girls is ranked among the schools that have achieved 100 percent transition.
“We have directed field officers to comb all their regions to track the candidates who are yet to report to schools and ensure they are enrolled in the schools they were placed in,” said Magoha.
He also directed Principals and head teachers to enhance support services to help young mothers selected to their schools to enroll as well as ensure candidates at the sub-county level report to Day schools nearest to them.
Prof Magoha said the mop up exercise will address the socio-cultural barriers to secondary education, as national administrative arms will work with county and sub-county education officials to ensure that no child is locked out of secondary education for any reason.
“Reports from all parts of the country indicate that large numbers of students have flocked various schools ahead of Friday’s 5pm deadline. We therefore expect figures to rise to the peak by end of today when we compile final statistics,” said Prof Magoha.
He said an analysis of the number of students who have reported shows that there could be about 150,000 candidates who may not beat the deadline, which also includes private schools and those who joined schools they had not been selected to.
The CS at the same time assured that the ministry will generate lists of unadmitted students per sub-county for tracking purposes and ensure that they are admitted, and urged head teachers to provide information to aid the process.
The five top Counties that have hit the 100 percent transition are Muranga with 127 percent (33,890 students), Nyeri 113 percent (19,507), Nairobi 111 percent (23,385), Vihiga 110 percent (18,980) and Tharaka Nithi 106 percent (12,993).
While the five Counties ranked bottom are Kilifi and West Pokot at 68 percent, Samburu 61 percent while Marsabit and Tana River stood at 60 and 49 percent respectively.
By Bernadette Khaduli
