The government has failed to achieve its much-publicized target of 100 per cent transition to senior secondary school, despite extending the Grade 10 admission deadline by five days, a spot check by TV47 has revealed.

Thousands of learners are still missing from classrooms across the country, with education stakeholders blaming what they describe as poor and irregular placement by the Ministry of Education.

What was meant to guarantee every learner a classroom seat has instead left many public day schools empty, learners stranded at home, and raised questions about the effectiveness of the new placement system.

A visit to several public day senior secondary schools on the final day of admission painted a worrying picture of deserted classrooms and idle teachers.

At Kathiriti Secondary School in Mwea, Embu County, only two students had reported by Wednesday evening, despite having received 5 applications.

“The students are not coming, right now tumepata watoto watano lakini wawili ndio wamereport shule. Tumefanya a lot of ground work, tumecampaign kwa makanisa lakini ata wale tulikua tumewekewa na serikali wametolewa.” said Newton Mugo, Principal Kathittiri Secondary School.

In Makueni County, Salama Senior School which has a capacity of 295 students had admitted only four learners.

“The classes are empty. All these four students requested transfers here, and even those we were given have not reported,” said Principal Abdi Mohamed.

The Ministry of Education had extended the reporting deadline from January 16 to January 21 in a bid to push transition levels to 100 per cent.

However, Ministry data now indicates that only about 85 per cent of learners have reported to school. Education experts argue that the shortfall is not driven by school fees, noting that most public day schools do not charge tuition.

Teachers’ unions and school heads, instead blame, the placement system, saying it is poorly coordinated, riddled with errors and disconnected from realities on the ground.

Busia Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Secretary General Moffat Okisai said some day schools were allocated learners from far-flung counties, making reporting impractical.

“You realize that a day school has been given students from other counties because of poor and irregular placement,” Okisai said.

Salama Principal Abdi Mohamed said several parents called seeking clarification after the system allegedly indicated his school was a boarding institution.

“When placement was done, parents from far counties called asking whether my school was boarding. I told them it is a day school. The system showed it was boarding, so I advised them not to pick the school because I have nowhere to accommodate their children,” he said.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, however, maintained that the government remains committed to achieving full transition.

“We are supporting the Ministry of Education through national government administrative officers to ensure 100 per cent transition to Grade 10,” Murkomen said.

Some school heads argue that the rollout of the new senior school pathways under the Competency Based Education (CBE) has distorted enrollment patterns.

Mugo said day schools were allocated only STEM and social sciences pathways, while arts and sports pathways which attract many learners were mainly assigned to boarding schools.

“The biggest problem we have is pathways. Day schools were not given arts and sports pathways. Boarding schools have taken the cluster of students that we normally admit,” he said.

He added that learners who traditionally fed into nearby day schools have shifted to boarding institutions, leaving day schools under-enrolled.

Mugo further noted that allowing parents to freely change school placements has weakened traditional feeder systems.

“Our mother primary school used to give us over 60 learners. Now we only have one student because many changed their placement,” he said.

As the reporting deadline lapses, education stakeholders are calling for urgent intervention, warning that unless the placement system is corrected immediately, thousands of learner’s risk remaining stranded at home.