Parents, schools seek more time as grade 10 selection falters

A crisis is brewing over senior school selection in the country, with reports that some learners could be left out as the deadline closes today.

School heads who spoke to The Saturday Standard on condition of anonymity complained of technical hitches and delays in uploading institutions, threatening to disrupt the selection of senior schools for learners transiting from Grade Nine.

For the 2026  Grade 10 senior school selection, learners are required to choose eight schools, down from the previous 12, through the official Kenya Education Management Information System (Kemis) portal.

The selection exercise opened on August 24 and is scheduled to close today, giving learners and schools just over two weeks to select their preferred senior schools, career pathways and subject combinations.

But with the September 11 deadline approaching, schools are reporting difficulties accessing the platform, submitting choices and, in some cases, finding complete and accurate institution details on the system.

The disruption comes at a critical stage of the Competency-Based Education transition, with nearly 1.2 million Grade Nine learners expected to move to senior school next year.

Under the new selection system, learners are expected to distribute their eight choices across different categories,  three C1 schools, two C2 schools, two C3 schools and one C4 school.

C1 are former national schools that are most sought after by students, while C2 includes extra-county boarding schools.

C3 consists of county boarding schools, while C4 provides for a local day school within a reasonable commuting distance from the learner's home.

Learners are also required to select a career pathway and subject combination based on their interests and the programmes offered by their preferred schools.

However, by Friday, parents were registering frustration over the difficulties they were encountering on the portal, with some saying certain schools were not appearing on the system.

Parents are now calling for the extension of the selection window to allow students more time and iron out the hiccups facing the platform.

National Parents Association (NPA) chairman Nicholas Obuhatsa said parents had reported major problems with the selection process, including schools missing from KEMIS.

“School heads should ask the Ministry of Education through the county education boards to seek an extension window to allow for selection to avert a crisis on Monday,” Obuhatsa said.

He also called on the government to reconsider learners who may have missed registration for the Grade Nine assessment earlier this year.

“We also have heard complaints of some learners who were not registered for the Grade Nine test. There is no repeating of classes under the Competency-Based Education, so we are asking the ministry for intervention,” Obuhatsa said.

At the same time, Jasper Omwenga, the NPA representative in Nairobi, said subject selection had emerged as another major problem, with some schools missing subject combinations in particular tracks despite being listed under categories where those tracks are expected to be available.

And now, the glitches have heightened fears that some learners could be forced to make hurried choices or miss out on their preferred schools if the system is not stabilised before the deadline.

“It is a complete mess and we expect to have a big problem in January with the likelihood that some students will be placed in schools they did not select,” Omwenga said.

Sources at the Ministry of Education said the transition from the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) to KEMIS had thrown the selection process into uncertainty.

The transition to the new system is at the centre of the snarl-up, with the ministry yet to upload all institutions and their available pathways and subject combinations to the KEMIS portal.

The problem has left some schools unable to complete the selection process, raising concern among parents whose children are expected to join Grade 10 next year.

Parents said the delays were causing anxiety because the choices made through the system will determine the institutions and pathways available to learners as they progress to senior school.

“We are being told to make choices, yet some of the schools we want are not appearing on the system. How are we expected to make an informed decision when the information is incomplete?” one parent said.

Another parent said the ministry should not penalise learners for technical problems beyond their control.

“The deadline is September 11, but parents and schools are already struggling with the system. If the portal remains unstable, what happens to a learner who is unable to submit their choices before the deadline?” the parent said.

Parents said the uncertainty was particularly worrying for learners seeking specific pathways, including Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Arts and Sports Science, and Social Sciences, because senior schools are expected to offer different subject combinations.

The implementation of the digital system has exposed gaps in the transition from NEMIS to KEMIS, with schools and parents having to contend with a platform that is still being populated as the selection window runs.

The Ministry has acknowledged technical problems affecting the Grade 10 Selection and Placement portal, including failed logins, unsaved submissions and outdated learner records appearing on the system.

However, the Ministry indicated in a statement that the official selection platform also provides a support desk for learners and parents who encounter problems.

The transition from NEMIS to KEMIS has also raised questions over the reliability of data being used by the Ministry of Education to allocate funds to schools.

While appearing before the National Assembly Public Accounts Committee in late August, Basic Education PS Joseph Olooltua told MPs that the latest capitation disbursement had not been based on either NEMIS or KEMIS data.

Instead, the ministry relied on manually verified figures as the new system was still being developed.

The admission triggered concern among lawmakers, who questioned how the government could release billions of shillings to schools without relying on a fully operational learner database.

MPs had previously raised concerns over more than Sh103.99 billion in capitation disbursed using learner figures from NEMIS that had not been independently verified.

The issue has now put the transition to KEMIS under greater scrutiny, with lawmakers questioning whether the new system will address the longstanding data gaps or simply reproduce them under a different platform.