Kenya's Education Minister Julius Migos Ogamba has urged politicians to stay out of education matters and pledged to safeguard the integrity of student placements in national secondary schools. He made the remarks while announcing the 2025 KCSE results at Chebisaas Boys’ Secondary School. Ogamba sharply criticized figures like former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua for meddling in the process for political gain.
Kenya's Education Minister, Julius Migos Ogamba, spoke on Friday, January 9, 2026, at Chebisaas Boys’ Secondary School after officially announcing the 2025 National Form Four Examination (KCSE) results. He stressed the need to keep politics out of education, vowing to address interference and political meddling in the student placement process.
“We will not sit idly by and allow politicians to inject meaningless politics into the education sector,” Ogamba stated. “Education matters should be left to experts. I urge these politicians to go back to the dictionary and learn the meaning of the word ‘national’.”
His comments come amid an ongoing debate over the placement of 1.1 million students who completed primary school last year into national secondary schools. There is fierce competition for spots in top national schools such as Alliance High School and Kenya High School, which each received over 20,000 applications despite having only about 500 places.
Ogamba strongly rebuked several politicians, including former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, who has claimed that “guests”—non-locals—have taken many spots in top schools in the Mt. Kenya region, to the detriment of local students. Gachagua continued to defend these claims yesterday, but Ogamba called on politicians to step back to ensure the process's integrity.
This highlights the growing tension between education policy and politics in Kenya, particularly in areas with high competition for elite schools.
