The government announced on Tuesday that over 500,000 students who sat for the 2018 KCSE exams will miss varsity slots.
From a total of 651,000 students who sat the 2018 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), only 90,744 students managed to score a C+ and above.
A total of 561,000 scored below this cut off points to secure a slot at the varsity.
This means all the 561,000 students will either have to repeat, join Technical Training Institutes or pursue diploma courses.
Educations Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed directed that qualified candidates should apply for their various institutions.
She also noted that these applications should be processed on order of merit by the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS).
“The Placement Service will process the application on merit taking into account students performances, choices, available capacity and affirmative action for gender, disability and persons with disabilities and candidates from marginalized regions,” said CS Amina.
The online applications process is open until February 23, 2019.
The selection for admission to varsities and TVET institutions will be closed on April 12 this year.
After this, students will have a one month to apply for transfers should they be dissatisfied by the outcome of the initial applications.
“To ensure candidates join courses and institutions of their choice, a one month window will be opened in May 2019 for the students to apply for inter-institutional transfers,” added the CS.