NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 7- Form One students who are yet to report to their respective schools have an extra week to do so following the deadline extension by the Ministry of Education.
In a statement, the Director of Secondary Schools at the Ministry of Education Paul Kibet said whereas a majority of the students have reported to their schools across the country, there are still students who are yet to be enrolled.
“To ensure all the 2020 KCPE candidates are admitted to Form One in the spirit of the 100 per cent transition, the Ministry had decided to extend the reporting period by one week to enable parents/guardians enroll their children in various secondary schools,” Kibet said.
He directed all school principals to admit learners reporting, including those who may not have the full school fees.
Principals were also urged to engage parents and guardians to make arrangements for fees payment.
“The mop up exercise to ensure 100 per cent transition will assume a multi-agency approach involving various state agencies like in the previous years. You are, therefore, directed to ensure elaborate plans and strategies are put in place to reach out and enroll all remaining students to secondary schools by end of the extension period,” Kibet directed.
Over one million candidates who sat for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations for 2020 started reporting to secondary schools on Aug 2, and the exercise was to be concluded on Monday next week.
A total of 1,179,192 KCPE candidates sat for their examinations in March under strict COVID-19 protocols.
The government has since revised school fees for boarding schools with this year’s academic calendar made to be 9 weeks shorter.
National schools will charge Sh8, 500 less while Extra-County and County schools will charge Sh5, 500 less.
This means students admitted in National Schools will now pay Sh45, 054 while the Extra County and County schools will pay Sh35, 035 per term.
The academic calendar is usually 39 weeks but the 2021 calendar will run for 30 weeks.
A section of parents have however, raised concerns saying due to the rising cost of living and the economic challenges occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic it is still difficult to raise school fees.
