Boarding secondary schools across the country will be required to admit day scholars starting January next year.
The initiative is part of new guidelines by the Ministry of Education, seen by The Saturday Standard, to accommodate the first cohort of Grade 10 learners under the Competency-Based Curriculum.
Under the directive, at least 10 per cent of students in every boarding school will be day scholars, in a move intended to decongest boarding facilities, expand access to education, and promote 100 per cent transition to senior secondary school.
The concept — branded “Day Wings in Boarding Schools” — seeks to delink student admission from bed capacity, a long-standing constraint in overstretched boarding institutions.
The Ministry, through the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), argues that the change will maximise the use of available resources while demystifying the belief that boarders outperform day scholars.
Parents or guardians of day scholars will shoulder the cost of meals while their children are in school, and play an active role in monitoring discipline and attendance.
Schools will be required to manage the entry and exit of day students daily, raising concerns over safety, infrastructure, and administrative burden.
Day and boarding students will wear the same uniforms and be seamlessly integrated into the school community, eliminating potential stigma or status segregation.
Once a learner is admitted as a day scholar, they will retain that status throughout their stay in the school—unless re-evaluated through formal procedures.
Already, the proposal has raised mixed reactions, with school heads voicing fears over security gaps that may arise if implemented.
Willie Kuria, of the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA), raised concerns about implementation, especially around safety and logistics.
Kuria further noted that school heads would require legal clarity on the boundaries of parental responsibility versus school accountability for day students.
“We support the intention to increase access, but there must be clear policy on how to manage day scholars in a boarding set-up. Schools need to know how the day wings will be managed and how the students will not enable incidents of insecurity and illegalities such as sneaking in contrabands. Without that, it risks being chaotic,” Kuria said.
But the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Deputy Secretary General, Moses Nthurima, supported the proposal, noting it would help in the development of a learner.
Nthurima said the move would boost parental engagement, which is critical in the Competency-Based Curriculum system.
“By introducing day wings, we are not only easing pressure on dormitories but also ensuring that no learner is left behind in the transition to Senior Secondary,” Nthurima told The Standard.
However, he has called on the Ministry to develop a clear guide on how to ensure the safety of learners within and outside the institution.
“There has to be a clear framework that spells out who is liable once a student leaves the gate. If anything happens, heads will be blamed,” he said.
The proposal mirrors an earlier initiative in 2020 by the Ministry of Education to open day wings in top national schools as a remedy to congestion that was then occasioned by the 100 per cent transition policy.
The directive required 19 national schools to open day wings, including Nairobi School, St George’s, Lenana, Kenya High School, Moi Forces Academy, Starehe Boys’ Centre, Pangani Girls High School, and Moi Girls Secondary School–Nairobi.
Others are Ngara Girls Secondary School, Buruburu Girls High School, Embakasi Girls, Arya Parklands, Nembu Girls, Dagoretti High School, Lang’ata Secondary, Upper Hill, St Georges Girls, Hospital Hill, and Ofafa Jericho.
This move aimed to increase capacity and address concerns about limited bed space in boarding schools, particularly as part of the free day secondary education programme.
However, despite the government’s directive, it was met with resistance from some institutions such as Starehe Boys’ Centre, which stated they would not be admitting day scholars.
According to then Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, the opening was to be rolled out in phases, beginning with Nairobi, but would later be expanded to other counties.
The directive saw the targeted schools receive overwhelming applications from students seeking to join the institutions as day scholars.
However, the plan did not sail through following the nine-month closure of schools after the Covid-19 outbreak.
By Lewis Nyaundi
