Best KCSE girl beats odds to earn impressive score

Eighteen year-old Njung’e Grace Wambui beat all the odds to emerge the top girl in last year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination.

Poverty did not prevent Wambui, who is from Dandora slums in Nairobi, from performing well in the national examination released yesterday by Education minister Sam Ongeri.

Wambui was at a Christian youth camp at Rukuriri African Inland Church in Embu East District when she received the good news from a friend.
The former student of Moi Girls’ High School, Eldoret, received the news with shock.

“I was shocked when one of my colleagues came running into the church and told me that she had heard that I was the best girl in KCSE in the country. I thought she was joking as I did not expect to perform that well,” she said.

On establishing the truth, she went down on her knees and started praising and thanking God.

Celebrate success

Her colleagues joined her in celebrating the success outside the church as bewildered villagers watched.

However, the best girl nationally did not make it to the top 10, which was dominated by boys. She emerged 11th on the list.

Wambui said the exam was hard and it came as a surprise to her when the results were announced.

She wants to pursue a degree course in Actuarial Science.

The second born in a family of three lives with her single mother in Dandora, Nairobi, where they struggle to eke out a living.

Her mother makes and sells soap to fend for Wambui and her siblings. Wambui’s secondary education had been sponsored by Starfish, a non-governmental organisation, because her mother could not raise the required school fees.

She joined the school in 2006 after obtaining 433 out of 500 marks in the 2005 KCPE exam.

During that year, she was the best pupil in Dandora Primary School.

Wambui recalled how her mother struggled to bring her up after she separated from her father in 2004.

She said life became harder after her father left and that her mother had to struggle all by herself to feed and educate them.

She attributed her success to God, hard work and assistance from teachers and fellow students.

“I always asked questions on whatever I did not understand and my teachers were supportive to the last minute. I also prayed and engaged in group discussions,” she said.

However, she was saddened that girls did appear among the top 10 in the national ranking.

“Girls should work hard this year so that they perform better than us,” she said.