How Senior School Slots Will Be Allocated Through the 20:20:60 Assessment Formula.
The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has released the guidelines for Grade 9 learners to transition to Senior School in January 2026 after the first Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) in November 2025. The assessment will have over 1.2 million learners, a major milestone in the Competency-Based Education (CBE) system.
The transition will align learners to three career pathways under the Senior School curriculum: Social Sciences, Arts and Sports, and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). National schools will offer all three pathways since they have the infrastructure and capacity.
KNEC CEO Dr. David Njengere said KJSEA will be a summative assessment, culminating a multi-layered evaluation system that started in Grade 6. He broke down the contribution of each component to the final placement: 20% from Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) taken in Grade 6, 20% from School-Based Assessments (SBA) administered in Grades 7 and 8, and 60% from KJSEA.
Dr. Njengere also noted that learners pursuing Arts and Sports pathways have already developed portfolios through activities such as music, drama and athletics which will complement their final assessments. He clarified that portfolios will not only document achievements but also reflect learner interests and that parents and schools should guide learners without imposing career choices.
“Career choices must align with talent and personal interest. Forcing learners into unsuitable pathways will frustrate them,” Dr. Njengere said. He added that Junior School is designed for exploration while Senior School is for specialisation.
On concerns about Junior School assessments, Dr. Njengere said the first SBA scores submitted in 2019 provided reliable national data. Out of 1.2 million learners, only 600 scored 20 out of 20, the national average was between 9 and 9.5 and a significant number scored between 2 and 5. He said the data did not support claims of teachers inflating marks.
“These are raw marks. There is no evidence of manipulation by teachers,” Dr. Njengere said.But principals are still worried about SBAs. Through their National Schools Forum, they said the placement will be compromised since 60% of the marks will come from school administered and marked assessments.
Kagumo High School Chief Principal Dr. Silas Mwirigi warned that teachers may be under pressure to award high scores to get their learners into national schools. “No school wants its learners to fail. The fear is that some may compromise the assessments to get their students into top schools,” Dr. Mwirigi said.
The Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) has reiterated that Senior School placement will be based on 20:20:60 weighting from KPSEA, SBAs, and KJSEA respectively. Unlike KPSEA which only monitored learning progress, KJSEA will determine learners’ placement in Senior School and their career pathways.
On exam security, Dr. Njengere said KJSEA will not require heavy police presence. “We have already phased out police officers during KPSEA. We hope to do the same for KJSEA,” he said.
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KNEC has also piloted digital assessments in primary schools to test the possibility of doing KJSEA online. While acknowledging the disparities in readiness among schools, Dr. Njengere said the Council is considering a phased transition. “Some schools are fully prepared, others are not. Do we wait for all to be ready or allow those who are ready to go digital while others do paper and pencil? Egypt did it successfully—we should start this conversation,” he added.
The upcoming KJSEA will be crucial in determining the educational and career paths of the first cohort of learners under the Competency-Based Education system as Kenya prepares for the January 2026 Senior School transition.
How Senior School Slots Will Be Allocated Through the 20:20:60 Assessment Formula
