Government announces way forward on KJSEA placement after public outcry

Charles Ouma 19:05 - 21 December 2025

The exercise will run for seven days and will address concerns raised by parents and learners.

The government has announced a seven-day window for learners and parents to review Grade nine learners' placement into senior school following the release of the Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) results.

The Ministry of Education issued a statement on Sunday, December 21, 2025 confirming that learners and parents dissatisfied with the initial placement that caused public outcry may review their choices starting Tuesday next week.

The exercise will run for seven days and will address concerns raised by parents and learners.

An automatic system was used to place learners into senior schools with the placement slots revealed on Friday, December 19, 2025.

The system factored in performance, learner preferences, equity, and available school slots, but parents raised concerns with the placement.

Concerns raised

Some noted that learners were placed in schools that they did not choose, with some placed in day schools far away from where they reside.

The ministry attributed the situation to high competition, limited slots in popular schools and misaligned communication between parents, learners and heads of institutions.

This is largely attributed to high competition and limited admission slots in popular schools, misaligned communication between parents, learners, and heads of institutions in selected schools, and variances between selected pathways and assessment outcomes.

System challenges

The system crashed repeatedly, returning error messages stating that “the requested info is not available”.

The ministry acknowledged the challenges noting that being a pioneer system, the feedback will be helpful in putting in place a robust and transparent placement system that is also fair.

Being a pioneer undertaking, the Government appreciates and empathises with parents, learners, and other stakeholders’ anxieties and uncertainties around the transition to Grade 10. We are dedicated to making the placement process as transparent, fair, and satisfactory as possible while taking into account learners’ preferences and the capacities and available pathways in respective schools.

More than 1.13 million learners sat for the Kenya Junior Secondary School Education Assessment in November with the results released on December 11, 2025.

Transition to CBE

After 44 years of the 8-4-4 system, Kenya transitioned to the Competency-Based Education (CBE) system with the aim of aligning learning with the National Development goals.

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba

CBE also seeks to match global education trends and prepare learners for the job market by equipping them with relevant skills and competencies.