MoE publishes guidelines for Grade 10 student placement, reversing decision on Mathematics selection.
The Ministry of Education (MoE) has revealed the standards that will direct the placement of Grade 10 students under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
Senior school, encompassing Grades 10 to 12, will formally commence in January 2026, signifying the shift for the inaugural Grade 9 cohort.
Commenting on Wednesday, the MoE deputy director, Fred Odhiambo, stated that there will be four classifications of senior schools, which include pathways, accommodation, gender, and special needs.
The pathways are categorized into two; one representing Science Technology Engineering, Mathematics and Arts and Sports Science – STEAMS on one side, and the triple pathways senior school including STEM, Arts and Sports, and Social Sciences.
Regarding the accommodation category, it will feature day senior schools for those who travel home daily and hybrid senior schools for learners who both live at the school and elsewhere.
As per the guidelines, there will be two classifications in gender, comprising Single Sex (girls-only schools and boys-only schools) and mixed-sex where both sexes are included.
The Special needs category would be divided into Special needs for school- Hearing, Visual, and Physically disabled, and Vocational senior schools that encompass learners with autism, cerebral palsy, cognitive challenges, and deaf-blindness.
In the pathway selection, the learner will choose 12 schools for their preferred pathway, which specifies four schools in the first choice track and subject combination, another four schools in the second choice subject combination, while the last four will be allocated to the third choice subject combination.
Odhiambo indicated that from the 12 schools selected within the pathway category, 9 will be boarding schools, where three will come from the learner’s home county and 6 from outside their home county/county of residence, while the remaining three will be day schools, with students coming from their home sub-county/sub-county of residence.
“On pre-selection, a school that does not permit open placement may apply to be pre-selected if it complies with the criteria set by the Ministry of Education,” he remarked.
He also mentioned that the placement will be determined based on the learner’s preferences, qualifications, psychometric evaluations, and fairness alongside school capacity.
During the admission and allocation process, he stated that the placement results will reveal where learners have been assigned.
“Admission letters/joining instructions shall be available online using the learner’s assessment number, whereby all schools, including public and private, will enroll Grade 10 through the Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS),” he clarified.
“No principal shall input a learner into KEMIS until he/she physically attends the school. Daily online reporting will be overseen via KEMIS. ”
The guidelines indicated that schools with openings will announce through their respective county directors of education, and learners wishing to change schools must submit requests via the heads of junior schools at least 2 weeks prior to the official Grade 10 reporting date.
“Priority will be granted to those who previously selected the schools they are requesting, with approvals by the Ministry of Education based on documented capacity of senior schools,” he continued.
“Upon approval of a request, the joining instructions shall be accessible online. It should be noted that at no time shall a school produce printed letters for replacement cases. Replacement will occur once and will be irreversible. ”
An automated placement system will take into account the student’s interest, the teacher’s feedback, and academic performance.
Moreover; Mathematics will continue to be mandatory in primary and senior schools, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba states.
According to Ogamba, this decision follows extensive consultations with stakeholders, where a proposal from last month to make it optional was abandoned.
“Most stakeholders during competency-based county dialogues believed that mathematics as a subject should be mandatory in senior school,” Ogamba stated on Thursday, April 24.
Arts students will now be required to study a simplified version of the subject.
This is contrary to the initial suggestion to make Math optional for learners under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), indicating a significant shift from the phased-out 8-4-4 system.
In the 8-4-4 system, students were obliged to take four compulsory subjects: English or Kenya Sign Language, Kiswahili, Physical Education, and Community Service Learning; learners would then choose three additional subjects from a list of 38 options.
However, this proposal has now been retracted by the government.
“We have heard your concerns, consulted with the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), and determined that some form of mathematics should be made compulsory for the two pathways not involving STEM,” stated Ogamba.
According to the Education CS, students in the STEM pathway will study pure mathematics, while the other two pathways will have a simplified version of formal math.
“Some form of mathematics will indeed be made compulsory for the two pathways that do not follow the STEM pathways. This approach will ensure that mathematics is included in all three pathways in senior schools,” he added.
This development follows significant criticism from educators, education stakeholders, and parents.
On May 13, the then basic education permanent secretary Belio Kipsang’ announced that mathematics will no longer be a required subject for learners moving on to senior secondary school, representing one of the most radical changes under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
Instead, he added that students will be obliged to take English or Kenya Sign Language, Kiswahili, Physical Education, and Community Service Learning as mandatory subjects, while selecting from a pool of 38 options to influence their academic and career paths.