Confusion as 80 extra names appear on school admission list

 

Form one students' belongings are lined up for for inspection during the admission of form one students at Lwak Girls High school in Rarieda, Siaya county. (Photo: Denish Ochieng/ Standard)

In one of the few Form One admission hitches reported so far, 80 extra names have appeared on admissions list of one of the county’s best schools.

Lwak Girls’ High School principal Anastacia Amollo said she had been directed to admit 360 students according to a list generated by the Ministry of Education after the Form One selection exercise, instead of the school’s maximum capacity of 280.

The school is now grappling with the possibility of admitting more students than it can accommodate, as the head teacher said she had no idea where to put the extra students.

“Lwak Girls is a six-stream school and the maximum number that should have been allocated to us was 280. The 360 who have admission letters as we speak can best be accommodated in an eight-stream school,” said Sr Anastacia.

She said she had notified the ministry of the anomaly and was directed to put down the complaint as a “remark”. “When I went to collect the list of students who were scheduled to report to my school and realised it exceeded the number the school can comfortably accommodate, I immediately notified the officers, who told me to write a remark to that effect,” she said.

Contacted, ministry officials in the region said such an error was rare in the Form One admission exercise.

Nyanza Regional Co-ordinator of Education Richard Chepkawai said it was highly unlikely for such an error to occur and promised that the ministry would address it.

“The allocation of students per school during the Form One selection last year was pegged on the most recent data captured in Jogoo House. We sent the reports on schools as late as November and that should have guided the number of students being selected to join various schools in the republic,” said Chepkawai.

The nationwide Form One admissions, which kicked off yesterday, saw enthusiastic parents and students begin reporting to the school as early as 6am.

In all the other schools visited by The Standard team, admissions went on smoothly, with teachers and parents taking their time to ensure that the new students met all the admission requirements.

“Students are reporting with materials they bought from their preferred shops,” said Hellen Juma, the principal of Sinyolo Girls’ High School.

At Kisumu Boys’ High School, a special committee has been set up to oversee the week-long exercise.