Confusion as Education Ministry gives KJSEA candidates 7 days to revise Senior School placements
Confusion continues to mar the Senior School placements after the Ministry of Education announced a seven-day review window for Grade Nine learners and their parents to raise concerns over placement into senior schools, following the release of the inaugural Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) results earlier this month.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Ministry said the review process will begin tomorrow, Tuesday, December 23, 2025 and will target cases where parents or candidates are dissatisfied with the schools and pathways allocated to them.
The intervention comes amid widespread complaints over placements, particularly among learners who failed to secure admission to their preferred institutions.
Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok attributed the discontent to intense competition for limited slots in high-demand schools, breakdowns in communication between parents, learners and school administrators, as well as mismatches between the pathways selected by candidates and their actual assessment outcomes.
He noted that these factors combined to create expectations that could not always be met within the available capacity.
The KJSEA examinations, the first of their kind under the Competency-Based Education (CBE) system, were administered nationwide in November, with results released on December 11, 2025.
To manage the transition to senior school, the Ministry relied on an automated placement system designed to balance academic performance, learner preferences, equity considerations and the availability of slots across institutions.
Despite these safeguards, the Ministry acknowledged that not all learners were placed in their schools of choice.
In its statement, it described the transition as a pioneering undertaking and said it understood the anxiety and uncertainty being experienced by parents, learners and other stakeholders.
“The Government appreciates and empathises with the concerns surrounding the transition to Grade 10,” the Ministry said, adding that it remains committed to making the placement process transparent, fair and responsive, while taking into account learner preferences alongside institutional capacity and available pathways.
The placement exercise marks a significant departure from the former 8-4-4 education system.
Under CBE, emphasis is placed on continuous assessment, career pathways and the development of practical competencies, rather than reliance on a single, high-stakes examination. The system is designed to align education with national development priorities, global trends and the need to equip learners with skills relevant to both local and international labour markets.
Under the new framework, Grade Nine learners select one of three senior school pathways notably; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Social Sciences or Arts and Sports.
Each learner is allowed to choose up to 12 preferred senior schools, categorised from C1 to C4, giving them a broader range of options based on their abilities, interests and institutional capacity.
Assessment under CBE is spread across multiple stages of a learner’s academic journey. Forty per cent of the final score is derived from the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) conducted in Grade Six, 20 per cent from continuous assessments in Grades Seven and Eight, and 60 per cent from the KJSEA administered in Grade Nine.
According to the Ministry, this staggered weighting offers a more comprehensive and realistic evaluation of learners’ readiness and suitability for specific pathways in senior school.
