Govt rejects 66,000 Grade 10 placement appeals
By Nancy Marende, December 28, 2025The Ministry of Education has rejected 66,000 appeals from learners seeking a revision of their Grade 10 senior school placements, citing limited capacity in highly sought-after schools.
Speaking on the outcome of the placement review process on Saturday, December 27, 2025, Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok said that out of 183,000 placement appeals processed by the Ministry of Education, 116,000 were approved while 66,000 were declined.
“Out of the 183,000 that have been processed, 116,000 of them have been approved. The transfers have gone through, while 66,000 have been declined. That is the position we have now,” Bitok said.
According to the PS, the main reason for rejecting the appeals was overcrowding in a small number of popular schools.
He noted that more than 50,000 learners applied to just 20 schools, most of which have a capacity of about 500 students each.
“It is impossible to deal with that number. These schools can only accommodate around 500 students each, which is why we had to decline some of the requests and ask learners to consider other options, especially public schools,” he explained.
Bitok announced that learners who are satisfied with their placements will begin receiving their admission letters from December 28, 2025.
However, the ministry acknowledged that some senior schools, particularly in far-flung areas, have failed to attract enough students.
To address this imbalance, the Ministry of Education is considering opening a second revision window.
“We have noted that a number of public C1 schools in remote areas are not attracting many students. As a ministry, we are working to ensure all our C1 schools receive students across the country,” Bitok said.
He revealed that a second placement revision is being considered between January 6, 2025, and January 19, 2025, to give learners an opportunity to apply to schools that still have available capacity.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, December 24, 2025, Bitok explained that placement reviews for Category One (C1) schools are being handled centrally at the ministry headquarters in Nairobi, while requests involving schools up to Cluster Four (C4) have been decentralised to line officers across the country to enhance efficiency and speed up processing.