Nyeri church-sponsored schools shine in KCSE tests

Secondary schools sponsored by churches in Nyeri are basking in glory after taking top positions in the county in this year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations.

Mahiga Girls' Secondary School in Othaya, which is sponsored by the African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa (AIPCA), led with a mean score of 8.138 points up from 8.0 in year 2017.

The little known school floored many academic giants in the region such as Bishop Gatimu Ngandu Girls and Nyeri High School.

The school's principal Fransisca Wahome and board chairman lawyer Wahome Gikonyo, while sharing secrets of their improvement, attributed the performance to concerted efforts between parents, teachers and students.

REVISION

“We had set a goal of attaining a mean score of nine points but we will work towards that next year and address other weaknesses we have noted,” said Ms Wahome.

The school, with 203 candidates, cleared the academic syllabus in February and later embarked on a comprehensive revision, according to Ms Wahome.

Thirteen candidates got A-, 33 scored B+, 31(B-), 57 (B plain) and 39 (C+). Another group of 21 candidates had C- and another nine got C plain.

“We also worked on the weak candidates as a group to uplift their performance,” said Ms Wahome.

Nyeri High School, which is sponsored by the Catholic Church Archdiocese of Nyeri, had a mean score of 8.05 points up from 7.7 last year. The school principal James Maina said the first student, Collins Munene Kariuki, scored an A plain of 82 points while 210 students scored C+ and above. It had 260 candidates.

The school also completed the syllabus in May and thereafter focused on revision work and topics which students felt they did not fully understand.

“We have challenges since some parents are not cooperative and they are overprotective to their sons. Also the government disburses little money and late and at the same time we are not supposed to charge parents any levy,” said Mr Maina.

He added: “The school is old and its buildings need to be improved annually for a conducive learning environment.”

He emphasised that the government’s decision to ban principals from charging fees has affected infrastructure development.

Another Catholic church-sponsored institution, St Mary’s Boys High School also registered good performance. The school, with a motto of “Give us a boy, we give you a man”, had a mean score of 8.117 up from 7.4 in year 2017.

The school principal Brother Peter Kombe attributed the improvement to discipline and commitment by the teachers, students, parents and the board of management.

“We usually admit the average students who get about 350 marks in KCPE. For Form Four candidates we purposed to complete the syllabus by May and later started total revision beginning back from Form One academic work,” said Brother Kombe.

He added that they also paid much attention to the low performing students.

Kanjuri High School in Mathira, which is sponsored by the PCEA Church, had a mean grade of 7.1 points up from 6.792 in year 2017.