By MUNGAI KIHANYA

The Sunday Nation

Nairobi,

15 February 2015

Several readers reacted angrily to last week’s article in which I explained how secondary schools select pupils to join form one. The anger was triggered by my assertion that this was a fair process. I requested all those who disagreed with my opinion to provide details to support their position but only one was forthcoming – complete with details of her son.

The boy studied at a primary school in the Westlands Sub-County of Nairobi and scored 342 marks in KCPE. In his parent’s opinion, this score “was 8 points short of the cut-off mark at Moi Forces Academy, his first choice. I believe it was sufficient for his choices for county-level and district schools”

This pupil had chosen the following schools: National category – Moi Forces Academy, Nairobi School and Mangu High; Extra-County – Dagoreti High and Njiiri School; County – Upper Hill School and Highway Secondary.

I downloaded the selection lists for these schools from the Ministry of Education website and I found that Moi Forces Academy had admitted only three pupils from Westlands sub-county: the first one was from Makini School (411 marks), the second from Strathmore School (400) and the third from Visa Oshwal Primary (388).

Even though the lowest mark admitted to Moi Forces Academy was 254 – a pupil from Chalbi Sub-county in Marsabit – the cut-off for Westlands was 388. This is 46 marks above 342; not the 8 stated by the reader!

The admission lists from the other schools revealed the following: Nairobi School admitted 4 pupils from Westlands with marks ranging from 429 to 412; Mangu High picked only one student – he had 396; Dagoreti High took 13 candidates (423 to 381 marks); Njiiri School selected two (410 and 360); Upper Hill School 12 (425 to 388 marks); Highway Secondary 25 (402 to 364).

From these lists, it is clear why this pupil missed all his preferred schools – the competition in his “home sub-county” was very stiff! Therefore, according to the selection policy, “the computer assigns such performing candidates schools of equivalent stature to their choices”. Consequently, the boy was admitted to St. Francis High School, Suwerwa – a county school in Trans Nzoia.

Is this a “schools of equivalent stature to [his] choices”? Even though it is 400km from the boy’s home in Nairobi, St. Francis High School, Suwerwa has boarding facilities – all county schools do.

I downloaded its selection list as well and found that the boy’s name is number 17 in the order of merit. The top student had 355 marks while the lowest had 110. Out of the 196 pupils admitted, 16 are from outside Trans Nzoia County and of these 16, eight are from Nairobi.

So, considering KCPE performance alone, I conclude that this is an appropriate school for the pupil. But as a parent, I know that marks are not the only consideration to make when choosing a school for your child. So I do understand the reader’s disappointment especially because St. Francis High School, Suwerwa is largely unknown in Nairobi.