A section of parents in Juja constituency have urged the Ministry of Education to exercise fairness in the selection of Form One students.
Speaking at Juja Preparatory School on Saturday, the parent’s allayed fears that the ministry might consider students from public schools for national schools slots.
The parents who had their students in private schools asked the ministry to ensure the selection exercise, set to begin on January 21, is based on merit.
Joshua Kamau, a parent who had a candidate at the school said equity and fairness must be followed accordingly.
“We are appealing to the Ministry of Education to exercise fairness in the Form One selection so that students from both private and public schools are given equal chance,” he said.
Kamua said there is a feeling that the government is likely to give priority to students from public schools.
Sharon Juma, a parent too, asked the government to be considerate and give all candidates equal opportunity.
“The government should make sure that the Form One selection is fair,” she said.
Juja Preparatory School was among the best performing schools in Kiambu County, with the top student scoring 431 marks out of the possible 500 marks.
While releasing the 2015 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations results last Wednesday, Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i assured parents that the selection process would be fair and transparent.
The CS said the government has set in place guidelines for the process, adding that he will share the same with the representatives of private schools.
The CS said a meeting has been organised with private schools officials on Tuesday next week to discuss on the forthcoming Form One selection.
Over 900,000 candidates sat the 2016 KCPE examination last year with at least 200,000 candidates who failed to score above 250 marks likely to miss out on joining secondary schools.