Starehe Boys Centre has been part of the talk on social and mainstream media in the past one week after a dramatic incident in which the institution refused to admit a student citing non-compliance and arrogance from the boy's parents.
The administration at Starehe refused to admit Jack Mutuma Mbabu, who had scored 417 marks in last year's Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination.
This is despite having an admission letter to the school and his name properly entered into the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS).
The boy and his parents pitched camp at the hotel near the institution for about 10 days trying to persuade the institution to admit their son but their efforts remained futile.
The ministry of education was compelled to step in and secure admission for the young boy at Mang'u High after the administration at Starehe boys center remained adamant.
This incident sparked a debate on various platforms with most Kenyans questioning the school’s admission policy demanding clear answers from the administration on how the admission process is carried out.
Following this drama, Starehe Boys’ Centre through its Twitter handle released an elaborate press statement clarifying and explaining its admission procedures that ought to be adhered to strictly.
In the detailed statement, the school insists that students wishing to join the school must file a comprehensive application form (Yellow form) and submit it before 31 July of the year they are sitting for the examination.
The form normally helps the school to identify the candidates level of need, family background details and approval of local leader with regard to the candidate's situation.
Once the results are released, the shortlisted candidate's application form is then matched with his results.
Those who would have met the minimum required marks and filled the forms properly and picked as the first choice are considered by the institution for admission.
The school also explains that priority is given to students based on their level of need and marginalization.
In the case of Jack Mutuma, the school stated that the candidate did not fill the form and the institution also confirmed that the student was not that needy.
Here is the statement below.