Christmas mood marred by anxiety, confusion on Grade 10 placement

Grade 9 candidates at Kakamega primary school. [Benjamin Sakwa/ Standard] As families across the country prepared for Christmas, the transition from Junior School to Grade 10 remained a nightmare for parents and learners. Instead of festive cheer, many parents and heads of institutions (HoIs) found themselves glued to the government portal, struggling to navigate a new and unfamiliar placement revision system under the Competency-Based Education (CBE) framework. The much-anticipated transition, the first under the new system, has exposed what many parents have dubbed "the devil in placement." On Tuesday, there was an uproar from frustrated parents going on a war path against the government over what they described as wrongful placement of their children in far-flung or small schools, sometimes hundreds of kilometres away from home. But even as tempers flared, officials at the Ministry of Education insist that the government is burning the midnight oil to ensure no learner is left behind. According to Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok, the ministry has mobilised its entire education machinery, from headquarters to the grassroots, sacrificing the festive season to steady the transition. "We are fully aware of the pressure parents and learners are under, and we are committed to ensuring that no child is locked out of education because of system failures," Bitok said. On Wednesday, the PS noted that out of over 1.13 million learners transitioning to Grade 10, Bitok revealed that about 100,000 expressed interest in revising either their school placement, their pathway, or both. "We have given them that opportunity on the portal. Although the system was a bit slow, by 4pm on Tuesday, we had already processed and approved 2,000 requests for revision across all four clusters of schools," he said. The revisions range from school-to-school movement, such as from Cluster 1 (C1) to Cluster 2 (C2) or Cluster 3 (C3), to pathway changes across the three available options: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM); Social Sciences; and Arts and Sports. "Some learners want to move from STEM to Social Sciences, others from Social Sciences to Sports and Arts. All these options are available," Bitok noted. However, the first day of the revision window was rocky. Overwhelming traffic caused a temporary breakdown at the Konza control station where the placement system is hosted. "The system may have stumbled, but it has not failed," Bitok said. "The challenge on Tuesday was occasioned by too many requests at once. The Konza team moved with speed and rectified the problem." The crisis has robbed many education officials and school heads of their Christmas break. More than 20,000 JSS head teachers, alongside ICT teams and field officers, are on duty throughout the holidays to support parents and learners. "We have sacrificed the festive season for their sake," Bitok said. "Our teams are working very hard to ensure every learner's interests are addressed." To speed up the process, the ministry has devolved approvals across different levels. Revisions for C1 schools are handled at headquarters, C2 schools by regional directors, C3 by county directors, and C4 by sub-county directors of education. "In total, we have 400 sub-county directors, 47 county directors, eight regional directors, and a team of about 20 officers at the ministry headquarters working collectively on this," Bitok said. Parents, however, have struggled with the restriction that only Heads of Institutions and ICT officers can access the system. "It's frustrating because parents cannot do it alone," said one parent in Nairobi. "You're told to wait or call the head teacher, yet everyone is overwhelmed." The PS urged calm, insisting that parents do not need to travel to senior schools or former schools physically. "The heads of institutions have credentials to access the system. They are just a call away," Bitok said. "I call upon parents to reach out to head teachers to support the children in this process." Despite the turbulence, some parents acknowledge that the placement system worked well for many learners. "For the first time, I've seen something positive," said Patrice Wambua from Kitui. "My daughter scored EE and was placed in a school and pathway of her choice." John Kariuki from Murang'a agreed. "The method worked for very many children. It's unfortunate it failed others, but the system itself is not entirely broken." Others see the reforms as a step toward equity. "The system used a national resource distribution formula. For the first time, rural learners are accessing schools that were previously out of reach," said Nancy Mmbone from Kakamega. According to Kenya Secondary School Heads Association chairman Willie Kuria, principals declared available spaces and subject combinations, which informed placement. "A learner taking STEM in a Cluster 1 school is not the same as one in C2, C3 or C4. Subject combinations vary," he said. Some schools have been oversubscribed while others received fewer applicants, forcing the government to distribute learners across the country in the name of equity - a move some parents believe is deliberate. Still, the ministry remains firm that the seven-day review window, which began on December 23, will address concerns, including gender mismatches. "Being a pioneer undertaking, we empathise with parents and learners," Bitok said. "We are dedicated to making the process transparent, fair and satisfactory. We will ensure every learner gets a pathway of their choice."

Christmas mood marred by anxiety, confusion on Grade 10 placement

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