Guidelines for Grade 10 Learner Placement in Kenya Released by the Ministry of Education
The standards that the Education Ministry will use to place students in Grade 10 have been described by Fred Odhiambo, the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Education.
Odhiambo stated in an interview on Wednesday, April 23, that the process of choosing senior schools for students in Grade 10 would be based on the pathways and accommodations, which include day and hybrid senior schools, gender, and special needs.
In accordance with the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), the current Grade 9 class, known as learners, is expected to move to Grade 10 in 2026, marking the beginning of the senior school phase.
The placement procedure for Grade 10 students under CBC is determined by their chosen career path and their performance on the Kenya Junior Secondary Education Assessment (KJSEA), which they will take between October 27 and November 5. The three pathways are the social sciences, the arts and sports sciences, and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Under CBC, senior schools are divided into dual pathway schools, which provide STEM, arts and sports science, or social sciences, and triple pathway schools, which will provide all the pathways.
As per Odhiambo, students will choose 12 schools for their chosen pathways in the following way: four in the first-choice track and subject combination, four in the second-choice subject combination, and four in the third-choice subject combination.
Of the 12 schools that the learners chose, nine should be boarding schools—three from their home county and six from outside their home county—and three should be day schools located in their home sub-county.
The placement of students into Grade 10 the following year, according to Odhiambo, will be determined by five distinct criteria.
The learners’ choice comes first on the list. The ministry will take into account the students’ options for courses, tracks, subject combinations, and schools.
The merit is the second factor, where the ministry will examine the learner’s academic achievement in their Grade 9 evaluation.
Psychometric tests, the third, are administered by the schools and the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) to determine the learner’s aptitude, interests, and talents.
Equity comes in fourth on the list, where students will be placed in schools according to regional balance in order to guarantee that everyone has equal access to institutions throughout the nation.
Finally, depending on the resources and space of a selected institution, the body will assign a student.
