The Kenyan nation has made great strides in education since independence. That the country has been ready to embrace educational reforms throughout its short history of independence and chart new ways forward at every turn is a great stance that has served the nation well. For sure, Kenya has been ready to “experiment” and advance its education system, staying ahead of the pack among most African countries.
The recent shift from the old system, which began in 1985, to the new system, dubbed Competency-Based Education (CBE), is yet another bold move by the nation to remain relevant in its education system. Kenya can be said to be one of the African nations that is focused on developing and maintaining a strong human resource base grounded in advanced skills and knowledge for its citizens, given its low endowment of natural resources compared to other African nations.
The beauty of the Kenyan nation and its citizenry is that they are not afraid to fail and that they face challenges head-on and resolve them as they arise, as they embrace whatever educational reforms they pursue. The recent grade 10 student placement, which marked the beginning of the senior school in the new CBE system, is an example of “experimentation” that the Kenyan nation has undertaken and will surely be refined as successes are celebrated, challenges resolved, and lessons learned.
Grade 10 placement concerns
From stakeholders’ reactions to the Grade 10 placement of students into senior school, several concerns have been raised. Some parents have argued that their children were placed in schools with lower rankings than they should have, based on the scores attained at the junior school grade nine assessment. Schools have been rated as either C1, C2, C3, or C4. This basically means that the school categories known as national, extra county, county, and subcounty schools have now been renamed C1, C2, C3, and C4 for the purposes of Grade 10 admissions.
Also Read: Ministry of Education Allows Application for Grade 10 Placement Review at Senior School of Interest
Thus, placement in a C1 school is regarded as more prestigious and an automatic ticket to the student’s success than placement in C2, C3, and C4 schools, in that order. Other parents have raised concerns about the placement of girls in boys’ schools and vice versa, as evidenced by the appeal to the Ministry of Education by the Provost of the All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi during the Sunday service on 4th January 2026. Another issue raised is that, due to the centralized nature of the grade 10 placement process, many students have been placed in day schools far from their homes in different counties across the country.
A critical component of the placement process was the assertion that AI was used to place students into grade 10 schools. On October 23rd, 2025, it was reported that the Ministry of Education had adopted AI for grade 10 senior school placement. This revelation was attributed to the Principal Secretary (PS) in the ministry, Prof. Julius Bitok. The PS was quoted to have said that “the pilot program, which was launched ahead of the January 2026 transition, aimed to ensure a fair and transparent process for the first cohort of learners under CBE”. Several issues arise here, given the challenges faced after placement.
What is means
First, Artificial Intelligence is supposed to be an assistant to support human intelligence rather than to take the lead in place of human action. For example, when girls are placed in boys’ schools, and vice versa, and the placement results are released to the public without human intelligence being applied to correct the mistake, this raises great concern. It means that human actors in the Ministry of Education surrendered their roles to AI and took a back seat.
Secondly, it would be of interest to the Kenyan public to know which AI was used the place grade 10 students in senior schools they desired and merited. Speaking generally about AI is akin to speaking of a means of transport without clarifying whether it was a bicycle, a train, a vehicle, an airplane, or a ship. There are various types of AI that perform distinct support functions. For example, AI applications such as Magic SchoolAI, Eduaid.AI, SchoolAI, and Gemini for education can be used for personalizing learning. However, student placement in schools is a complex, practical policy effort that requires human intelligence at every turn. Therefore, the Ministry of Education is well placed to clarify the specific AI they used and how they used the AI in the placement of grade 10 students. That way, the Ministry will be in a good position to promote transparency and fairness and to improve the process in the future.
Also Read: Govt Extends Grade 10 Placement Revision, CS Explains Why 144,000 Applications were Rejected
We hope that AI will continue to be deployed by the Ministry for the good of the country to aid efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency, among other key attributes. However, it is important to note that while critical processes, such as student placement in schools of their choice, can be supported by AI as an assistant, human intelligence still plays a larger role.
This article was jointly authored by Dr. Brown Onguko and Davis Muli Musyoki. Dr. Onguko is a specialist in educational technology and serves as an Associate Research Scientist at The African Population and Health Research Center in the Human Development Theme Davis is a Communications Officer in the Synergy Unit within the Policy Engagement and Communications (PEC) division at the African Population and Health Research Center.
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