Education Ministry releases Senior School Placements for Grade 10

The Education Ministry has opened access to Grade 10 placements for candidates who sat for the Kenya Junior Secondary Education Assessment (KJSEA) 2025.

Parents can verify their child’s assigned school by sending the learner’s KNEC assessment number via SMS to 22263 or alternatively through the ministry’s online portal placements.education.go.ke.

According to the ministry, top performers in each pathway, STEM, social science, and arts and sports science will get priority placement in boarding schools of their choice.

From Tuesday, December 23, a five-day window will be available for those who wish to make revisions of the placements.

The Grade 10 students are expected to join their respective senior secondary schools starting January 12, 2026.

The Ministry emphasized that the placement process is fully automated, and in the choice of schools, consideration was given to students’ examination results, individual preferences, psychometric evaluations, equity, and the capacity of schools.

The ministry further pointed out that the school replacement process, where students will transition from junior to senior secondary schools, will only occur once and is irreversible once completed.

The KJSEA examinations were conducted between October 27 and November 3, 2025, and saw the assessment of over 1.1 million students, the first cohort to sit for the national examinations under the Competency-Based Education (CBE) system.

Learners were examined in 12 subjects which included English, Mathematics, Agriculture and Nutrition, Kiswahili, Kenyan Sign Language, Integrated Science, Pre-technical Studies, Creative Arts and Sports, Social Studies, and Religious Education.

The assessment score used for placement is derived from 20 per cent of the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA), 20 per cent from school-based assessments conducted in Grades 7 and 8, and 60 per cent from a summative assessment administered at Grade 9.

In the new curriculum, each learner will study seven subjects: four core subjects—English, Kiswahili or Kenya Sign Language, Community Service Learning and Physical Education—and three subjects drawn from the chosen pathway.

The Ministry of Education announced the results of the 2025 KJSEA examination on December 11, 2025.

Unlike the previous Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations, candidates received detailed result slips showing strengths and areas for improvement rather than certificates.

Under CBC, learners are assessed using four main qualitative grades: Exceeding Expectation (EE), Meeting Expectation (ME), Approaching Expectation (AE), and Below Expectation (BE). Each grade is further divided into two sub-levels – EE1, EE2, ME1, ME2, AE1, AE2, BE1, and BE2 – with points ranging from 8 to 1.