Kenya concerned as 130,000 2018 KCPE candidates are yet to enroll in Secondary School

13 percent of the 1,036,220 candidates who sat for the 2018 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination is yet to report to secondary school.

This was revealed by Education cabinet secretary Amina Mohamed last week. The minister noted that some of the factors that contributed to this state of affairs include teenage pregnancies, early marriages, insecurity, inhibitive cultural practices, indirect costs of secondary education and extreme poverty in households, especially in arid and semi-arid areas.

“As of yesterday, NEMIS statistics indicated that the Ministry had realized an 87 percent Form One reporting rate.

This means that 895,987 students have now fully enrolled in Form One,” Amina disclosed on Thursday last week Although this enrolment is seven percentage points better than last year, Amina noted that her ministry is determined to do everything possible to realize a 100 percent transition.

“Majority of the Counties, have recorded transition rates above 80 percent, the minimum standard we expect at this point as schools finish the process of uploading their admission details.”

She said Amina is particularly concerned about the enrolment rate in six Counties which have recorded below 70 percent. These are Mombasa, Lamu, Kwale, Samburu, Isiolo and Tana River.

“This low enrolment rate is unacceptable at this point in the transition process,” she said These ‘special’ counties according to the minister will be the Ministry’s point of first intensive focus.

From the current National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) data, 640 candidates have opted to repeat class eight while 2,299 have joined vocational colleges.

In the face of these challenges, the Ministry has today launched a countrywide weeklong Last Mile Form One Admission Campaign towards 100 Percent Transition exercise meant to trace the 130,000 students who have yet to report to any school.

The head teachers of respective schools where the students sat the KCPE have been ordered to avail all the vital information to aid the process of ensuring that all students enroll in secondary schools.

“We have prepared data packets bearing actual names and location of these students with the aim of personalizing this last mile exercise right to the individual. We shall leave no child behind,” the CS announced.

This data will be shared with local administrators who will team up with Directors from the Ministry in this final push. As part of the initiative to enlist more candidates, Amina said principals and Headteachers should help young mothers selected to their schools to enroll immediately.

The minister said this is being done to ensure that no child is locked out of secondary education owing to factors removed from his/her ability to continue with learning.

“It is the constitutional right of every Kenyan child to acquire free and compulsory basic education. The Ministry has, therefore, generated lists of unreported students per Sub County for purposes of tracking them and ensuring that they are admitted accordingly,” she said.