National schools to take more candidates as selection starts

Teachers, parents, and pupils celebrate the performance of KCPE 2019 candidates at Maryjoy Kindergarten & Primary School in Mombasa. The school’s 60 candidates posted a mean score of 339.4, an improvement from the previous year’s score of 335. [Maarufu Mohamed, Standard]

The scramble for top slots in the country’s national schools kicked off yesterday, as senior Ministry of Education staff retreated to fine-tune the selection criteria.

Over the years, only candidates who score 400 marks and above are guaranteed slots in national schools. But with only 9,770 candidates attaining the grade this year against a declared capacity of 30,000, more slots will be up for grabs.