A little-known school in Kitui County has stunned academic giants such as Kitui School, Machakos School and Makueni Boys High in the 2022 KCSE examination results released yesterday.
All the 240 students who sat the test at Matinyani Secondary School qualified to join universities.
The extra-county school, which is sponsored by the Catholic Church, posted a mean score of 9.94 to emerge top in Kitui, Machakos and Makueni counties.
Tabulation of the results seen by the Saturday Nation shows that 35 students scored A- while 156 garnered B+ . The rest of the class got B.
The KCSE stars include Reuben Mutavania Mwangangi who scored A- of 80 points and Andrew Kimanzi who got A- of 79 points.
They attributed their performance to hard work and good relationship with teachers.
Mr Nelson Murithi, the school’s principal, said the performance was consistent with an upward trend the school has witnessed in the past five years.
“In 2017, we posted a mean score of 6.2, which improved to 6.9 the following year. This further increased to 7.6 in 2019. The following year we did even better by posting 7.94. In 2021, the mean score was 8.3, with 197 out of the 201 students going to universities,” an elated Mr Murithi said.
He attributed the impressive performance to the discipline of students, commitment of the teachers and cooperation of the stakeholders such as the sponsor and the board of management.
“We thank God for the results. Catholic priests pray with the students every day. The teachers have successfully inculcated a culture of result-mindedness among the learners. Once people get focused on achieving good results they tend to work towards realising those results,” he said.
Mr Murithi also attributed the performance to an innovative model of administration that the school has adopted.
“The school has a unique administration structure. We have deployed various form principals to serve the students better. A form principal runs the class the way a principal runs the school.
The form principal co-ordinates the class teachers,” said Mr Murithi who has been at the helm of the school for the past five years.
Kitui School, a known academic giant, posted a 9.3 mean score.
Franklin Koome Gitimu is among the KCSE stars who made the school community proud. He scored A of 83 points.
Out of the 199 students who sat the examination at the school, 193 qualified to proceed to university.
Kitui School principal Benard Mutua attributed the good performance to discipline among learners and the dedication of teachers.
Kathiani Girls High School joined the league of regional giants with a 9.12 mean score. Out of the 170 students who sat the exam, 164 qualified to join universities.
The performance was slightly above St Therese Mbooni Girls High School which defended its number one position in Makueni County, with a mean score of 8.9.
Milkah Nyambura Karanja of St Therese Mbooni Girls High scored A of 83 points, two points ahead of Morcyline Mutheu Mbithi.
AIC Sombe Girls High School in Kitui County posted 8.54 mean score, up from 6.2 in 2021, while Makueni Boys High registered 8.3 mean score, a marked improvement from the 2021 results.
St Charles Lwanga in Kitui County got 8.18 mean score.
According to the principal Hellen Opondo, St Annes Muthale Girls High School in Kitui County posted 8.11 mean score, up from 8.03 in 2021.
Machakos High School garnered 8.00 mean score as Kisasi Secondary School in Kitui Cunty posted a 7.96 mean score as Misyani Secondary School in Machakos County got 7.48.
Yesterday, Sergius Muthoka, one of the students who topped the KCSE charts in Makueni County, was busy harvesting African foxtail grass seeds for sale oblivious of his performance when a Nation team visited his home.
He scored A mean grade of 80 points at Makueni Boys High School to emerge among the top performers in the county.
The 18-year-old is among tens of bright students who had been placed on a full scholarship programme by the county government.
“I expected to score either A minus or A plain. With this performance, I have made a bold step towards actualising my dream of being a pilot. I want to enrol at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study aviation,” he said.
He attributed the performance to putting in long hours of study.
“The aviation dream which I have been working on since Standard One inspired the performance. The head teacher at Nthia Primary School predicted that I would become a pilot after I had excelled in a school test,” he told the Nation.
