She is the best teacher in Kenya

• Pangani Girls English tutor beat 60,000 colleagues to take home the big prize

A mother of three, Mrs Omari also inculcates the spirit of good performance in her children. Her first born, Herbert, scored an A at Starehe Boys Centre. He took up Actuarial Science at Jomo Kenyatta University. The others are still in primary school.

Born in Mochengo Village in Gucha District, Mrs Omari exhibited academic genius early in her life. She always topped her class at Mochengo Primary School and was in the cream of Ahero Girls where she went for secondary school in 1981.

She chose English and Literature at Kenyatta University, and was posted to Pangani Girls immediately after graduation.

After three years at the school, Mrs Omari drew a strategic plan that would see the school improve in her subject. At the time, students at the school were not very disciplined with many cases of sneaking out.

“I kept telling my students that discipline was key for them to succeed. We started getting results immediately,” she remembers.

In 1997, when she took over the languages department, the school scored 9.48 points (an average of B plain) in English. It has never gone below that, with 2006 recording the highest mean at 10.76 points (A-Minus).

As a medium of communication, English is compulsory in course choice and students who perform below grade C Plus may be forced to do a bridging course before they take up some courses.

And what does the future hold for her? “I have given talks to many national schools and interacted with many students.

“I think I can do well at shaping language policies at a higher level,” she says.