Basic Education PS Julius Bitok/HANDOUTBasic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok has said the Ministry of Education has dismissed 66,000 appeals from learners seeking changes to their Grade 10 senior school placements.
Speaking on Saturday, Bitok confirmed the ministry had so far handled 183,000 placement review requests, with 116,000 approved and the rest rejected.
“We have processed 183,000 appeals. Out of these, 116,000 have been successful, while 66,000 were not approved. That is the current status,” he said.
According to the PS, most of the unsuccessful cases involved learners applying almost exclusively to a cluster of about 20 highly competitive schools, which receive far more applications than available spaces.
Bitok added that the ministry will open a second revision window for candidates whose appeals did not go through.
“We are thinking of opening a second revision window between January 6 and January 9 to allow learners to apply to schools that have not attracted enough students,” he said.
“We have observed that many public C1 schools located in remote regions are attracting very few applicants," he said.
"As a ministry, our goal is to ensure every C1 institution receives students from across the country."
The PS added, "We are considering a second revision exercise between January 6 and January 9, 2026."
The ministry had earlier announced a seven-day review period beginning December 23, to address concerns from Grade 10 candidates unhappy with their initial placements.
Learners were advised to seek assistance through their Grade 9 schools or at the Ministry’s Sub-County and County offices.
Bitok noted that the review process is supported by an automated system designed to match learners’ preferences with their performance and available vacancies.
The system also resolves errors such as incorrect gender entries during the selection.
He acknowledged the wave of dissatisfaction among some parents and candidates, attributing it to tight competition for limited slots in popular institutions, as well as miscommunication during the school selection stage.
“The biggest challenge is capacity. More than 50,000 students are competing for spaces in only 20 schools, each of which can admit about 500 learners. It is simply not feasible,” Bitok said.
"It is not possible to place all learners there, which is why we ask some to consider other C1 school options."
Pathway selection under the new Competence-Based Curriculum (CBE) allows students to choose educational pathways that correspond with their demonstrated skills, interests and aspirations.
The options include Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Social Sciences and (iii) Arts and Sports.
Additionally, learners are provided with 12 choices to make for their preferred senior schools (Grade 10), ranging from C1 to C4.
The Ministry of Education announced the KJSEA results on Thursday, December 11.
The Grade 10 placements were subsequently released on Friday, December 19.
According to the Ministry, a total of 1,130,459 learners sat the 2025 KJSEA, with 578,630 being male, and 551,829 being female.
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