Candidates who sat the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) last year joined Form One on August 2, 2021 in the wake of surging coronavirus infections in the country.
Over one million pupils joined, marking the first time all 15 million learners will be in school since the disruption of learning calendar by the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
The admissions are underway at a time when several schools are grappling with space, with less desks and even classrooms to enable social distancing to prevent further spread of the virus.
A total of 36, 254 candidates will join national schools; 17,406 girls and 18,848 boys.
Some 201,067 learners were posted to extra-county schools, 95,646 being girls and 105,431 boys.
213,591 candidates joined county schools; 115,325 girls and 98,256 boys, while 718,516 joined sub-county schools, 357,029 girls and 361,487 boys.
This will be the first time the schools will be admitting huge number of students who sat for their KCPE examinations amidst financial constraints among parents.
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Some parents lost their jobs due to the pandemic and some who are still under payslip can’t bear with the high cost of living due to increased taxes.
The government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 with lockdowns have led to rising unemployment.
More than 1.7 million people lost their jobs in the first four months of the pandemic.
100 % transition
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration is determined to ensure 100 percent transition from primary to secondary school.
To this end, Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Magoha announced a reduction in school fees last month with school heads put on the spot over sending students back home over lack of fees.
National schools will pay Ksh.8,500 less while extra County and County schools will pay Ksh.5,500 less.
This means the new fees in National schools will be Ksh.45,054 while learners in Extra County and County Schools will pay Ksh.39,554.
It is a reprieve for parents in the country who are yet struggling to raise school fees in the wake of a tight economy that has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Primary and day secondary school education is free.
Fees was reduced due to the short nature of the 2021 academic calendar that was affected by COVID-19.
The academic calendar is usually 39 weeks but the 2021 calendar will run for 30 weeks.
