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The government yesterday launched a countrywide mop up exercise to ensure all those who sat last year’s Class Eight examination transit to secondary school.

The exercise comes amid reports that 20 per cent of last year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam candidates are yet to join Form One.

Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang directed all county commissioners and chiefs across to ensure that all those who sat KCPE exams in their jurisdictions report to Form One.

 “We are working with the Ministry of Interior to ensure that we attain 100 per cent. As of Friday, we were doing slightly above 70 per cent, and I believe as data continues to stream in, we will be doing good by the end of this year, across the country we should be at 80 per cent,” said Kipsang.

 Speaking at the Mama Ngina Secondary School in Mombasa county, Kipsang warned that any parent who fails to take their children to school will be prosecuted.

Kipsang said the transition in junior school in Mombasa is at 80 per cent by yesterday.

 “It will be a big mistake for parents to leave children at home while we have day schools that education is free and fully funded by the government, our priority is to ensure that nobody stays at home,” said Kipsang.

 Later in the day, Kipsang visited Kongowea Primary School where he held a meeting with students and parents of junior secondary school. He directed teachers not to chase away students who report to school without uniform warning that they will be prosecuted.

Government policies

 “There will be consequences for not adhering to government policies pertaining to junior and senior secondary schools,” warned Kipsang.

Kipsang warned school heads in public day schools against sending home their children for lack of uniform or fees. He said the government has so far released the school capitation for tuition thus no school head can purport not to not have received the money.

 “Let there be no teacher who rejects a student because of uniform or books in day schools, for those in boarding schools, they will be required to pay fees, which is Sh45,000 for national schools,” said Kipsang.

 Kipsang also announced that Mama Ngina National School in Shanzu will be commissioned this term by president William Ruto. The School was relocated from Mombasa Central Business District after the government offered it 20 acres of land in Shanzu.

Preliminary reports

In Homa Bay county, government officials kicked off a mop up exercise to trace students who have not joined Form One yesterday.

 Preliminary reports indicate that at least 10,395 students in the county are yet to report to Form One in what could jeopardise government’s policy of 100 per cent transition to secondary school.

 Out of the 42,408 students who sat for last year’s KCPE exams in the county only 31,813 have been admitted to various secondary schools.

 Consequently, Homa Bay County Commissioner Moses Lilan said the officials have embarked on a mission to trace learners who have not reported to secondary schools for admission.

Lilan said chiefs, their assistants and other administrators have been directed to comb their areas of jurisdictions and round up all learners who are yet to report to schools.

 He said the officers will be moving to schools to identify learners who sat for KCPE and are yet to report to Form one in a move geared towards ensuring the government achieves 100 per cent transition to form one.

 “The rate of form one admission in the county is so far below the expectations of the government. Therefore, we have begun a process to identify students who are yet to join Form One and take them to school,” Lilan said.

 The administrator noted that even though some learners may choose to pursue technical courses in local vocational training institutes no institution offering such courses had reported admitting Class Eight learners as at Friday last week.

 Some parents who have not admitted their children to Form One citing financial challenges.

 But Lilan said such situation should not prevent students from transiting to secondary school, adding that the government had already disbursed capitation to schools.

 “We have also asked our officers to identify students whose parents are struggling to get money so that they can be introduced to education support programmes targeting vulnerable students,” he said.