The Ministry of Education has announced plans to effectively end the ranking of secondary schools by merit.

Speaking on Thursday, April 25, during the Inaugural Annual Symposium on Competency-Based Assessment, Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang said all secondary schools will now be renamed senior schools and categorised according to the pathways they offer.

“Secondary schools will soon be categorised according to the pathways they will offer…We will soon convene a stakeholders engagement on the pathways and pathway placement in Senior School,” Kipsang said.

According to the PS, the re-categorization of secondary schools will pave the way for a new, three-tiered system aligned with the rollout of CBC.

It will see the institutions identified based on the subjects offered. This includes; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Centres, Humanities and Arts Schools, and Creative Arts and Sports Schools.

This is unlike the now phased-out 8-4-4 system, where secondary schools were categorised as national, extra-county, county, and sub-county, depending on their performance.

For transition, learners will sit a written examination just like the KCPE, which, alongside classroom assessment, will guide them toward the specific category of senior school they will join.

Kipsang said the process of mapping institutions has kicked off as the exercise is expected to be completed by next year as part of transition preparation.

He added that earlier preparation will facilitate the smooth transition of the anticipated admission of the pioneer grade 8 CBC class,who are currently in Junior secondary hosted in primary.

The PS assured that finer details of the changes will be issued once they are finalized as education stakeholders are so far deliberating on the transition to Senior school.