Alliance, Mang’u produce top candidates in Central

The top national schools in Central region continued to dominate the top positions in Form Four examinations.

Alliance Girls had the best girl from the Central Region. Mel Christine, was who was ranked sixth nationally, had grade A of 87.274 and was followed Njenga Briand Ndungu of Mangu with 87.259 and Osogo Monyenye Wesley of Alliance High School had 87.173 points.

Overall, Pangani Girls High School of Nairobi for the second year running produced the best candidate in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations.

Miss Otieno Irine Juliet was named the best candidate this year with a performance index of 87.644. She followed on the trails of her compatriot, Naomi Kawira Karimi, who was tops with an A grade of 87.011 points.

That year, Pangani also produced two other candidates in top 10 candidates, namely, Muraya Mongina and Mwatate Emily. Its overall performance index that year was 66.222 and was ranked position 10 nationally.

SECOND BEST CANDIDATE

In the results released on Friday by Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed, the second best candidate was Kaluna James of Maseno School, with a performance index of 87.394. Maseno made a dramatic comeback to the top charts, posting five candidates among the leading 100 achievers.

Coming third was Edwin Otieno Ouko of Light Academy in Nairobi with a performance index of 87.363 followed by Kamweru Mwangi Duncan with a performance index of 87.289 from Moi high school Kabarak in Nakuru in fourth berth.

In the list of honours, the second best candidate was Kaluna James of Maseno School, who had 87.394 points, followed by Edwin Otieno Ouko of Light Academy, 87.363 and Kamweru Mwangi Dancan Ian of Moi High School, Kabarak, 87.289.

Also trailing the blaze with A grade were Humphrey Rasugu, also of Maseno School, 87.281, Mel Christine of Alliance Girls 87.274, Njenga Brian Ndungu of Mangu, 87.259, Osogo Monyenye Wesley of Alliance High School, 87.173; Nyakea Moraa Shalyn of Moi Girls Nairobi 87.16 and Onyando Roy Allan Ochieng of Maranta 87.101.

TOP PERFORMERS

An analysis of the performers showed that Alliance High School and Moi High School Kabarak had the highest numbers of candidates — 16 each — among the top 100. This means they could be among the top performers if ranking was done. The Government no longer does school ranking.

Other schools posting high numbers of candidates to the top 100 were Kapsabet Boys (7), Maranta (6), Alliance Girls (5) and Maseno (5).

In the mountain region, some of the candidates with grade A were Dennis Mwangi of Murang’a High School, Brian Gachugi of Pioneer in Muranga, Kamau Caroline Muringi, Kariuki Sylvia Wahito and Cynthia Gichuki, all of Bishop Gatimu Girls in Nyeri.

Dan Muriithi Mutambi of Meru School also scored a similar grade of 81 points to equal Mutethia Dominic Laibuni of Nkubu High.

Releasing the results at the Kenya National Examinations Council headquarters in Nairobi, Ms Mohamed reported improved performance in the exams.

UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

At least 315 candidates scored A in the exams, nearly doubling last year’s 142. The number of candidates who qualified for university education, obtaining grade C+ and above also grew significantly to 90,377 compared to the previous 70,073.

The rising numbers of qualifiers are giving universities a new lease of life, they will now have a slightly bigger pool to pick from. Private universities, which had been affected by reduced number of qualifiers will have reason to smile.

Ms Mohamed reported improved performance all round in the subjects manifested in the number of subjects whose grades went up, 14 compared to 13 last year, and similarly decline in subjects done poorly, 12 against the previous 13.

Another notable indicated of efficiency in the education system is the fact most candidates who sat the exams were of the right age, between 19 and 20.

In education terms, presence of many over-age or under-age candidates demonstrate inefficiency. It means many learners are repeating or some are fast-tracked even when they are not ripe for the grades they are promoted to.

VALUE ADDITION

Among the key highlights was Knec’s attempt to do a tracer study, compare candidates performance in Standard Eight against Form Four ostensibly to determine the value addition during the secondary school period.

On this score, five candidates were named to have made a remarkable leap, having joined Form One with very low points but went ahead to excel in KCSE and qualify for university education.

Leading this list was Josphat Kamau Mwangi from Mioro Secondary School in Murang’a County, who had obtained 278 marks in KCPE four years ago, but went ahead to obtain grade A- at KCSE. Others were Richard Kyulu who had 257 in KCPE but obtained B+, George Mburu Maingi had 279 in KCPE but got B+; James Kamau Wambui, 186 points to grade B- and Gideon Cheruiyot, 209 against grade B.

In terms of gender performance, boys continued to do better in most subjects compared to girls. Girls outperformed boys in six subjects namely English, Kiswahili, CRE, home science, art and design, and metal work.

NO CHEATING

Speaking during the release of the results, Knec chairman George Magoha reported that there were no cases of cheating this time round. However, there were irregularities where some individuals and teachers were caught attempting to cheat.

Teachers Service Commission chief executive Nancy Macharia said 61 teachers were reported to have flouted the exam rules and five of them have been interdicted.

This year, there were 660 candidates who sat the exams, out of which 338,628 were boys and 321,576 girls. This is a slight increase over last year’s 611,952.

A total of 1,499 candidates with special needs sat the examinations compared to 1,407 last year.