Thousands of students transitioning to Grade 10 have overwhelmingly ignored more than half of the senior secondary schools available to them, with new revelations showing that 5,000 out of 9,750 institutions received zero selections in the just-ended placement exercise.

The worrying trend has sparked concerns over rising inequality in school preferences and cast doubt on the readiness of the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) transition.

On Thursday, Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok disclosed that the selection exercise, which closed on July 15, saw students only apply to 4,250 senior schools nationwide.

Most of the institutions that were completely bypassed are day schools.

The development has raised fears that thousands of students will be placed in schools they did not choose, leading to questions about fairness, preparedness, and the suitability of these institutions.

The Ministry of Education has now termed the situation a national crisis that demands urgent attention.

“We are going to have a national conversation so that we ask ourselves, really, if there are more than 5,000 schools which have not been selected by anybody, what can we do as a country so that we can be able to optimise these schools? Because these schools also require investment, they require teachers, they require many other things,”  Bitok said.

He made the remarks during the launch of the ‘Citizens of the Future Education Summit’ held in Nairobi.

Bitok also confirmed that top-performing students will be competing for slots in a limited number of top-ranked schools, most of which are former national schools.

These are now known as Cluster One institutions under the CBC system. He explained that all 205 national schools will be required to admit top students from each of the 398 sub-counties, ensuring a nationwide representation of high-achieving learners.

“All the former national schools will get the first of any student for Grade 10,” Bitok said.

This move is set to revive the high-stakes competition that previously surrounded admission into elite schools with better facilities, higher academic records, and stronger reputations. Despite this, the government maintains that all students will find placement.

“We have enough space for all the learners. And the first preference is for the learner to choose where they want to go to school. And we have a system which is able to select,” Bitok added.

Under the CBC, secondary schools are now categorised into four groups: Cluster One (former national schools), Cluster Two (extra-county), Cluster Three (county), and Cluster Four (day schools).

Kenya Secondary School Heads Association chairman Willy Kuria said the outcome was expected, noting that students naturally lean towards schools with better resources and stronger reputations.

“Disparity in resources and infrastructure is a big contributor to the inequality in secondary schools. Students tend to lean on the top and well-resourced schools and shun the dilapidated schools in their neighbourhood,” Kuria said.

He emphasised that although students are ignoring day schools now, the reality is that most will still end up there. “About 70 per cent of our students attend those day schools they are rejecting, and come January, these institutions will admit the most number of students. That is the reality. So the government should look into bettering these institutions,” he said.

Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers Secretary General Akello Misori described the selection results as both shocking and revealing. He urged the government to pay serious attention to the poor state of day schools across the country.

Education lobbyist Janet Muthoni also voiced concern about what appears to be a return to aggressive competition for schools with superior infrastructure. She warned that the inequality in school preferences may worsen if the state fails to invest equitably in public institutions.