A total of 249,856 students who sat last year's Kenya Certificate of Primary Examinations (KCPE) will miss places in form one enrolment, the minister for education Prof. Sam Ongeri has said.

Only 445,872 out of the slightly 695,728 pupils will be placed in both public and private secondary schools country wide.

While launching the form one selection exercise Thursday, Education Minister Sam Ongeri said the government is concerned with the transition from primary to secondary following the large number of KCPE candidates occasioned by the free primary education programme.

He said the government in partnership with stakeholders will expand secondary institutions to accommodate the additional number of students.

He said the government has invested heavily on education to cater for poor students.

Despite considerable increase in the transitional rate from primary to secondary education from 47% in 2002 to 70% in 2008, the high number of students missing places in secondary schools is still a major concern.

National schools have selected 3,331 students; Provincial schools 122, 365 students and district schools selected the highest number of students having taken 277,693 pupils. 42, 483 students will get placement in Private schools. 

As part of the reforms to increase transitional rate, the Minister stated that his ministry has digitized form one curriculum, provided laboratory facilities and introduced ICT Information Communication facilities, adding that a total amount of Sh13 billion has been released to  address the affordability of secondary education aimed at benefiting over 1.34 student.

The minister laid emphasis on the development of ICT in secondary schools as a facilitator of realization of vision 2030 in the education sector.

Prof. Ongeri expressed concerns at the large numbers of candidates who are unable to proceed to secondary education, saying it was an impeding factor in achieving education for all children.

He assured Kenyans that his ministry had developed appropriate quality assurance initiatives to improve and sustain quality in the country, for instance, by supplying laboratory equipment to 700 needy secondary schools every year.

Other measures he said included the improvement of secondary school's science laboratories through grants for construction, in-service training for mathematics and science teachers, capacity building for field officers to enable them support teachers and the institutionalisation of in-service training for teachers.

"On this part the government continues to encourage establishment of more secondary schools while at the same time encouraging schools with extra facilities to ensure they increased their number of streams" said Prof. Ongeri.

He warned heads of schools against increasing fees or impose levies, saying that any increase must be discussed by the board of governors (BOG) and approved for presentation at the parents' Annual General Meeting (AGM) for deliberation.

On the impending teachers strike, Prof. Ongeri said the increase offered by the government is the best that the economy could afford.

On the form one selection, the Minister said that only 445,872 out of the 695,728 candidates who sat for last year's Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) would be admitted to join form one in both public and private schools in the country.

National schools will admit 3,331 candidates, provincial schools 122,365 students, district schools 277,693 while 42,483 others will join private schools.

"As all of you are aware, the Ministry is concerned at the large number of KCPE candidates who are unable to proceed to secondary education," Ongeri said.

The selected students are expected to report to their respective schools between 2nd and 6th February this year.