The Ministry of Education has issued a stern warning to politicians against making statements on national school admissions that could create fear or pressure among students and their families.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba emphasized that the process should remain guided by merit and fairness, warning that political commentary could harm learners’ well-being.
Speaking in Muranga on Tuesday, Ogamba stressed that national schools exist to serve all high-performing students, and their placement must not be influenced by political agendas or regional considerations. He highlighted that linking school admissions to locality or development funds could send misleading signals to the public.
“We are sending a very strong warning to our leaders, who are saying national schools should only admit students from the locality where they come from. We must differentiate between the national school status of a school and issues relating to the development of the infrastructure of those schools using the CDF,” he said.
He noted that many national schools predate the Constituency Development Fund, and their historical status should not be confused with infrastructure support.
“Some of the institutions we are talking about were not built by CDF. They’ve been there for a very, very long time. CDF just came the other year, several years ago. So let us differentiate that, because it could send the wrong signal,” Ogamba explained.
The caution comes in response to comments by Democracy for Citizens Party leader Rigathi Gachagua, who has spoken on admissions, advocating merit-based selection while pointing out potential issues with the locality quota system.
“All children in Kenya deserve equal treatment. National schools are very critical because they have a very developed infrastructure, and they attract the best among children. There must be fairness in the placement of children in national schools,” Gachagua said.
He clarified that his stance is not about ethnic or regional exclusion but ensuring that deserving students are not denied opportunities near their homes.
“I have not insisted that children of a certain area must go to schools where those children are domiciled, no. Where the schools are domiciled, children from that area who qualify must be given an opportunity,” he added.
Gachagua further cited a case of a top-performing student who was denied a nearby school placement, while students from other regions were admitted.
“There is a child in Thogoto who scored 71 out of 72 marks; Alliance is just a few metres, and the child had asked to be placed in Alliance, and the cluster was right, but the child was denied while students from other regions got an opportunity. These placements must be based on merit, and I am saying it is unfair to deny a child an opportunity to go to the school of their choice,” he said.
Ogamba countered these remarks, urging leaders to avoid using school admissions for political arguments, noting that learners have no political affiliations and their focus is on education.
“Let us desist from making statements that might have a very negative impact on our institutions, because our institutions are there to shape these learners, who are almost 11 million in the whole country,” he said.
“When you look at these learners, they are not interested in our political alignments; they do not belong to political parties. They don’t belong to any particular places or spaces. They come to learn,” he added.
The Education CS warned that such political commentary could cause anxiety, emotional stress, and even depression among students, especially during placement periods.
“We want to encourage leaders, even as you try to get political mileage in your statements, try and do it elsewhere, not in the education sector, because the anxiety you create, which is unnecessary, affects not just the parents, but a lot of the students as well, and might even have serious implications for those. That’s why we are saying, even as we are doing this placement exercise, we are alive to the fact that some students sometimes can even go into depression if they do not get the schools they want,” he said.
