Parents who have obtained form one admission letters from school principals are in for a rude shock after the Ministry of Education maintained that they will only validate admission letters generated from National Education Management Information System (NEMIS).
Hundreds of students are expected to be affected by the tough measures put in place by the ministry that will hinder school heads from dishing out admission letters through the back door.
Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed has restated the ministry’s warning that such admission letters are deemed as fake since they were not generated from the online system and are missing from the ministry’s records.
In the past, school principals had the liberty to give out admission letters to qualified candidates without interference from the Ministry of Education.
Regional and county coordinators of education across the country yesterday received instructions to account for every child admitted in school.
The Principal Secretary of Basic Education Dr Belio Kipsang directed that NEMIS should be the central point of admission.
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“Any school that may have offered admission to students outside NEMIS should immediately recall those joining instructions. An audit will be done at the end of the admission process,” read the statement from the PS.
The circular further stated that such admissions are illegal and punishable by law as action will be taken against school boards that will be found guilty.
In his directive, Dr Kipsang said, “At the close of reporting day of January 11, 2019 a report on all admissions will be generated for necessary action. Principals should be aware that only Form One students admitted through NEMIS will be provided Government capitation.”
He added that the 100 per cent transition policy should be implemented by the education field officers and ensure that every student secures a place in secondary school.
Parents have, however, pleaded with the ministry to recall the directive as many students are already admitted to secondary schools outside the NEMIS system.
“I have already paid the school fees and bought all the necessities for my form one student as the admission letter from the principal directed, now I will be affected, so will my child and it is distressing,” said Mr John Kamau a parent in Nairobi.
Mr Kamau is one of the many parents who admitted their children to school as schools reopened for the first term. The parents want school heads to do the selection process instead of a computer system citing human understanding is needed in some cases.
Approximately 300,000 form one students were selected to join national, extra-county and county schools, with 12,273 candidates expected to join national school after scoring more than 400 marks.
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