Parents, Teachers breathe a sigh of relieve ahead of form one admissions

Education PS Belio Kipsang with CS Amina Mohamed/FILE

Changes in Form One placement will be done in schools and details entered in the National Education Management Information System, the government has said.

The Education ministry issued new guidelines after parents protested against an earlier directive barring principals from admitting students outside the NEMIS. The ministry rescinded the decision.

In a guideline to regional education coordinators, county directors and school principals, the ministry said changes in admission must be entered the NEMIS upon students reporting to school.

Director General Department of Early Learning and Basic Education Elyas Abdi said principals of national, extra-county and county schools will shortlist all students requesting placements in their schools.

The principal will enter the details of the students in the NEMIS and request capture.

“Approval will be granted at different levels depending on the category of school before a learner is moved from the first school he/she was placed to the latest,” Abdi said.

This procedure, he said, will be different for sub-county and private schools where after selection, the schools will download a template from their NEMIS accounts and capture details of the students admitted. The principal will then upload the list using a provided link.

Change of placement, he said, is irreversible once approved and can only be done once.

This directive emphasizes the Ministry’s policy of online-based admission despite allowing school principals to admit students.

Confusion had set in following reports that the ministry had revoked an earlier decision of having all Form One admissions done online.

The order, which has since been revoked, barred principals from admitting students, claiming they did not have the power to do so.

After a public uproar, Education PS Belio Kipsang’ allowed school principals to admit students as long as their details are captured in the new digital system.

He directed all principals who may have issued hard-copy letters to parents to regularise the process by uploading the students’ details onto the online system to fast-track the process of validation and approval.

Kipsang said 26,000 Form One transfer requests have been approved through the NEMIS.

The purpose of online admission, the ministry said, is to create a complete database for all students joining secondary school.

The database will be used for allocation of grants from the government under the subsided learning programme, registration for medical insurance and recording of transition from primary to high school.

 

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