The Kenya Private Schools Association (KPSA) plans to challenge in court the recent Form One students selection exercise for national schools, arguing it discriminated against pupils from private schools.
KPSA said the selection was unfair to candidates from private schools who scored more than 400 marks and merited admission to national schools but were instead placed in extra-county schools.
"Kenya Private Schools Association has resolved to take to court the Ministry of Education for discriminating against children from private schools who performed well by denying them equal chance with those from public schools to get to national schools," said KPSA National Vice Treasurer Aidarus Abdulrahman in Kilifi Sunday.
He said the selection should be nullified and a fresh exercise conducted.
The association's Chief Executive Peter Ndoro claimed the exercise did not take care of individual performance, adding that there could have been a deliberate attempt by some officials to mess up the selection.
He maintained that there was a deliberate effort by the Government to undermine private schools, which he said have improved education standards in the country.
The KPSA national board will meet tomorrow to discuss the matter.
"Private sector is here to stay and we have now stopped engaging the Ministry of Education and are now talking to the Presidency directly because we feel somebody somewhere wants to destroy private schools," said Mr Ndoro.
He took issue with the selection exercise, saying top performers who sat the exams in private schools had not been given the slots they merited.
"There are so many pupils who got more than 400 marks from private schools but most of them have been selected to join county extra schools instead of national or county schools," added Ndoro.
Hide information
Kenya National Association of Parents (KNAP) Secretary General Musau Ndunda also hit out at the Ministry of Education for allegedly hiding information to enable them analyse the selection process.
Mr Ndunda said out of the over 889,000 candidates, only 100,000 sat their exams in private schools, adding that the selection should not only be based on affirmative action but merit.
"When the late Prof George Saitoti was the Minister for Education, we suggested there should be a mix of top performers from private and public schools. This is because there are some pupils who, when they go to secondary school, perform well despite having scored less than 400 marks," said Mr Ndunda.
He said the ministry had failed to offer leadership and ensure that pupils who performed well got the schools of their choice.
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Deny opportunity
Mr Abdulrahman said KCPE candidates who scored 400 marks and above from private schools were denied an opportunity to join national schools during the selection process.
He disclosed that a girl from Kilifi who scored 413 marks in last year's Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exams was selected to join Katana Ngala Memorial Secondary School in Kilifi County, which is classified as a sub-county school.
He said selection of candidates to join national schools should be based on the marks scored rather than whether they studied in public or private primary schools.
The officials said parents with children in private schools paid a lot of money and were now demoralised by the new policy, which they insisted should be reviewed to ensure equal treatment.
The officials appealed to parents from private schools whose children were denied a chance to join national schools to remain patient as they prepared to take the Government on.
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