Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi has defended the formula his Ministry used in this year’s form one selection exercise saying that they have acted within the provisions of the Constitution.
He said the Constitution allows for affirmative action and his Ministry was therefore not obligated to base the form one selection process purely on merit.
Cases of high scoring students failing to secure slots in national schools were to be expected as the competition for the best performing national schools is high, he added.
“It should be borne in mind that it is not all the time that the expectations of all the candidates will be met in terms of their preferred schools,” he said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
Even so, he added, merit still came into play as the top three boys and girls from every sub-county — regardless of whether they come from a public or private school — were admitted into national schools.
Courtesy of Capital news