Senior School Placements for Grade 10 Released; How to Check

Learners who sat the 2025 Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) can now access their Grade 10 senior school placements following their release by the Ministry of Education.

The Ministry had earlier in the week said that candidates transitioning to senior secondary school can check the institutions they have been placed in starting Friday, December 19, after the conclusion of the placement exercise.

How to check Grade 10 placement

Candidates can check their senior school placements by sending an SMS with their KNEC assessment number to 22263 or by logging into the Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS) portal, the official online placement channel.

The text service costs Ksh30 per SMS and provides the learner with information about the school to which they have been assigned. The SMS option is particularly convenient for students and parents who may not have ready access to the internet or computers.

For the online option, learners can navigate to the placement results section, where a “Get Started” option allows them to initiate the process of viewing their assigned school.

However, by Friday, December 19 — the promised deadline — parents and learners were left stranded, unable to access placement results through the official channels.

During the release of the 2025 KJSEA results last week, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba said placements would be guided by learner performance and the selected senior school learning pathways.

CS Ogamba explained that the Grade 9 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.

Individual KJSEA results can be accessed online via the KNEC portal (kjsea.knec.ac.ke), where learners must enter their assessment number and a registered name.

Also Read: How to Change Grade 10 School Choices Ahead of 2026 Admission

The Cabinet Secretary added that senior schools were clustered earlier in the year based on the pathways they offer, forming the basis of school selection by learners and parents. Kenya currently has 9,540 senior schools with a total capacity of 2.2 million learners.

With 929,262 candidates exiting secondary school after the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) this year, Ogamba said the system has sufficient capacity, as senior schools will host only three classes.

He noted that the additional space will help prevent overcrowding and ensure all eligible learners are accommodated.

Performance and grading

At the same time, CS Ogamba said learner performance at KJSEA is reported using the performance levels Exceeding Expectation, Meeting Expectation, Approaching Expectation, and Below Expectation, structured on an eight-point scale.

Of the 12 subjects assessed, seven recorded higher proportions of learners performing at the Meeting or Exceeding Expectations level, led by Hindu Religious Education, Integrated Science, and Social Studies. Overall, 75 per cent of learners attained Approaching Expectations and above across all subjects.

Of the 1,130,459 candidates who sat the 2025 KJSEA, 59.09 per cent demonstrated potential to pursue the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) pathway, 46.52 per cent Social Sciences, and 48.73 per cent Arts and Sports.

Grade 10 learners are expected to report to their respective senior schools on January 12, 2026.

Senior school learning pathways

Under the Competency-Based Education (CBE) framework, learners joining senior school in January 2026 must select one of three specialized pathways based on interest and performance:

• STEM, including pure sciences, applied sciences and technical studies

• Social Sciences, covering languages and literature, humanities, and business studies

• Arts and Sports Science, including creative arts and sports

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

Also Read: All Schools Offering Aviation, Computer Studies, and Geography for Grade 10s

Following the transition, learners will undertake a three-year cycle covering Grades 10 to 12. Senior school learners will attend 40 lessons per week, each lasting 40 minutes, with formal learning running from 8:20 a.m. to 3:20 p.m.

Fees structure

Fees payable in senior schools will vary under the new institutional classification framework, which groups schools into C1 to C4 clusters, replacing the former national, extra-county, county, and sub-county categories.

Under the revised structure, C1 schools (formerly National) will charge Ksh53,554 per year while C2 schools (formerly Extra-County) will charge Ksh45,054.

On the other hand, C3 schools (formerly County) will charge Ksh40,035, with students in C4 schools (formerly Sub-County) receiving free secondary education, with no tuition fees payable.

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