MP wants Starehe punished over admission standoff

South Imenti MP Kathuri Murungi address the media at Parliament on Monday 21/01/2019 on the current Starehe Boys Centre student Jack Mutuma's admission drama. [Boniface Okendo,Standard]

Starehe Boys Centre's conflict with the parents of a Form One student the school refused to admit escalated yesterday.

An MP said he would petition Parliament to summon the centre's top officials even after it emerged that the student the school had turned down had been admitted to Mang'u High School.

South Imenti MP Kathuri Murungi wants the National Assembly’s Committee on Education to summon the institution’s top officials to explain why they rejected the student.

Yesterday, Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed announced that the ministry has placed the student at Mang'u High School.

The student scored 417 marks in last year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination.

Stunning defiance

The MP described the defiance by Starehe as stunning and wants its administration to explain why it cannot take directives from the Education ministry despite receiving funding from taxpayers.

“I will personally petition Parliament to summon the Starehe Boys Centre management to explain why they denied the student a slot in Form One despite having successfully applied through National Education Management Information System (Nemis),” said the MP.

Meanwhile, the centre has offered another student a slot to replace a boy it rejected last week.

The school announced the offer yesterday as it explained its admission requirements.

The requirements include selecting school as the first choice, completing the yellow form that sets out the family background and scoring the minimum entry mark.

“Of the 24 candidates, 23 complied with the requirement and secured admission into Starehe. Only one did not comply and the case was referred back to the ministry for further action," stated the school.