The Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) has opened the portal for Grade Six learners to select the Junior Secondary Schools they would like to be placed in.
KNEC Chairperson, David Njengere, stated that the portal was open from Monday, August 15, and the selection process will be concluded on August 30, 2022.
Njengere noted that despite schools being closed, the portal was opened to allow learners time to select their preferred secondary schools.
For the selection, learners were directed to log into the portal, select the Grade Six register and choose their preferred schools.
They will select an option of two national, two regional, two county, four sub-county and two private schools of their choice.
The method used in the Junior Secondary Schools selection is similar to the Form One placement by Standard Eight learners. Notably, for the selection, learners will work closely with their school heads and teachers.
There are over 10,487 Junior Secondary Schools nationwide – 8,933 public and 1,554 private.
A total of 1,268,830 Grade Six learners are expected to transition to Junior Secondary Schools.
KNEC had set guidelines for Grade Six 2022 national examinations.
Njengere explained that the final Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) for Grade Six will be presented in multiple-choice format.
He detailed that for the Grade Six exams, KPSEA will follow the Basic Education Curriculum Framework, guidelines that were unveiled by the Ministry of Education in 2019.
The framework was developed by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD). Grades Three, Four, Five, and part of Grade Six national assessments are formative, while learners will sit for a summative assessment at the end of Grade Six.
The summative assessment will contribute to 40 per cent of learners’ scores. They will have acquired their 60 per cent from school-based assessments.
Parents and some students were wary that the exams would not follow the multiple-choice format but follow the format used in the administration of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examinations (KCSE).
In the summative assessment, the Grade Six learners will be assessed in five subjects including Mathematics and English on the first day, Integrated Science and Kiswahili on the second day, and Creative Arts and Social Studies on the third day.
