KCSE: Top marks for Alliance School

Alliance School’s Mark Nyauma Maugo is the best candidate in the 2008 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations results released on Tuesday.

Students performed relatively poorly in the examinations compared to 2007, a fact attributed to the post election chaos early last year, the unprecedented wave of student unrest mid-last year and improved vigilance by exam authorities to defeat cheating.

Students did poorly in 15 of the 28 subjects offered in the exams. They performed particularly badly in English, Kiswahili, biology, physics and chemistry, which are required for university admission and entry into good profession.

But candidates did reasonably well in mathematics, Islamic religious education, arts, German and aviation. Other than maths, the others are optional subjects and do not count much for entry to university, tertiary institutions or professions.

Exam cheating was down: there were 1,419 cases, from 1,875 in 2007.

Unlike in the past, the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) did not rank schools but only provided a list of the top candidates. The aim was to discourage irrational competition which has seen some students cheat to top the charts.

Highlights of the results announced by Kenya's Education minister Sam Ongeri at the Kenya Institute of Education:

Mark of Alliance, the best candidate, had a mean score of 87.26757 and was followed by Starehe’s Nyaosi Bugei Omete, who had a mean score of 87.362.

The third candidate was Nikhil Kush Patel of Uasin Gishu High School, Eldoret, a little known school that defied odds to put up a good a showing in the national academic map.

The best girl in the exams was Velma Nanyama Mukhongo of Kenya High, who was ranked fourth and scored 87.17057. She was the only girl in the top 10.

Other top candidates in order of merit were: Denver Mosigisi Ogaro of Alliance (5), Eric Omingo Bosire of Starehe (6), Robert Okinyi Tabu of Maseno (7), Bernard Tabarua Larperi (8), Morris Wabacha Kimani of Alliance (9) and John Asango Ondigo of Maseno (10).

Among the top 10, Alliance had three candidates, while Starehe and Maseno School had two each. It is Uasin Gishu and Mary Mother of Grace in Laikipia West that produced surprises.

In 2007, Starehe produced the best candidate in Morris Muchiri Waiganjo, who had a mean score of 86.97128. In 2006, Dickens Omanga Omosa of Friends Kamusinga topped with a mean grade of 87.15928.

Nyaosi was the star of Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations in 2004, demonstrating consistent academic excellence.

Varsity entry

On Tuesday, Alliance School’s Principal David Kariuki was upbeat about the boys’ showing in the exams, saying the school had rediscovered its winning form.

“We are delighted to have produced the best candidate and two others among the top 10,” he said. “The challenge is to keep up and continue excelling.”

Of the 305,000 candidates who sat the papers, only 72,649 or 24 per cent scored C+, which is the minimum for university entry.

Only 817 candidates attained grade A compared to 1,157 in 2007. Similarly, a whopping 102,759, or one third of all candidates got grades D to E, a far cry from the 69,166 in the previous year.

Grades D to E are regarded as total failures and candidates who score them do not get admission to colleges nor are they useful when looking for a job.

Prof Ongeri expressed concern at the drop in the performance, which he attributed to the election chaos and student strikes.

The violence led to the destruction and closure of schools, and displacement of students and teachers, all of which led to loss of valuable learning time.

Schools burned

Some students lost relatives and were traumatised, compromising their performance.

A wave of student strikes in second term saw many schools burned or closed. In Nairobi’s Upper Hill School, a deputy head boy died in a dormitory fire started by rampaging students.

Prof Ongeri was particularly alarmed by the poor showing among girls, with only two making it to the list of the best 20. Matters were worse in Nyanza and North Eastern Province, where no girl was ranked among best 10 in provincial listings.

“We cannot continue like this. We thought we were winning the war against gender imbalances, but the results show that the situation is getting worse,” he said.

For good measure, he instructed Education Permanent Secretary Karega Mutahi to organise visits by top ministry officials to Nyanza and North Eastern provinces this month to establish the cause of the poor enrolment and performance of girls in the national examinations.

Cheating continued to dog the exams despite stringent measures put in place to contain it. Prof Ongeri highlighted some of the methods used in exam cheating, including use of mobile phones to send papers before exam time or answers when candidates were writing the papers.

Although the ministry banned mobile phones in schools, security searches during the exams netted 159 of them, an increase from the 50 confiscated the previous year.

Said Prof Ongeri: “We established that some headteachers and teachers colluded with students to buy phones to be used purely for exam cheating,” he said. “It is abominable, the lengths some people can go to cheat in exams.”

The methods used to cheat include supervisors sneaking papers out, candidates smuggling materials into exam rooms and impersonation, where some candidates hired people to write the papers for them.

Prof Ongeri also talked of cartels that sold fake papers in Nairobi, Nakuru and Mombasa and a practice in which candidates rented rooms during exam time, where they were coached by university and polytechnic students.

The results were handed over to the minister by Prof Raphael Munavu, the chairman of Knec, and the secretary, Mr Paul Wasanga. Present at the function were assistant ministers Ayiecho Olweny and Calistus Mwatela, Prof Mutahi and Education Secretary George Godia.