ALLIANCE, KAPSABET BOYS TOPS KSCE 2014

Alliance High School appeared to have registered the best performance countrywide in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations, whose results were released on Tuesday.

The national school in Kiambu County had a mean score of 11.402 and was followed by Maranda in Siaya County, which had a mean score of 11.401 and Kabarak, in Nakuru County with 11.358.

Other schools that emerged among top performers were Mang’u, a national school in Kiambu County and Starehe Boys in Nairobi County.

Maryhill School, which was ranked 9th nationally in 2013 with a mean score of 10.6919, dropped to 9.830 last year while Mang’u had a mean score of 10.751, up from 10.150 the previous year.

For the first time in history, a candidate from Mandera County scored an A, the first in the history of KCSE.

Ibrahim Abdi Ali, a student at Sheikh Ali Secondary School in the troubled Rhamu sub-county scored 81 points.

UNIVERSITY CUT-OFF

The top three schools will be sending an army of 1,067 candidates to university next year, assuming a cut-off of B (plain). Of these, 470 will be from Maranda, 332 from Alliance and 265 from Kabarak.

Kabarak High recorded the highest number of candidates with grade A (134) compared to Alliance’s 123 and Maranda’s 120.

Alliance, besides having 123 straight A, had 119 candidates with A-, 62 with B+, 28 with B, 11 with B-, three with C+ and one C.

Three candidates had a mean score of 84.

The principal, Mr David Kariuki, said: “If we had ranking of students as was the case in the past, we are sure these three students would have been among the top 10 candidates in the country.”

Maranda High School in Siaya County, rising from the ashes after its results were cancelled in 2013, had 120 candidates with grade A, 145 with A-, B 65, B- 35, C 5 and 1 C, giving it a mean score of 11.401.

Principal Boaz Owino said the results vindicated his school.

Kabarak had 134 A, 114 A-, 17 B+, 8 B and 1 B- in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations (KCSE), translating into a mean score of 11.358.

School Principal Henry Kiplagat described it as the best performance in history and attributed the success to good discipline by the students and dedication by the teachers.

STAREHE RECOVERS

Another traditional good performer, Starehe Boys Centre, recovered from last year’s slump to post an impressive mean mark of 10.65.

Starehe Principal Peter Ndung’u said: “We are very happy that out of 248 candidates, 246 will be joining universities.”

According to a survey of schools, the top performers were national schools. Boys also seemed to have fared far better than girls.

Among the top performers were Kapsabet Boys of Nandi County with a mean score of 11.254, Maseno School with a mean score of 10.9. Mangu of Kiambu County with 10.751 and Lenana School in Nairobi.

Precious Blood, Riruta, a county school run by Catholic sisters and which posts good results every year, lived up to its tradition, recording 24 A, 55 A-, 37 B+, 1C.

Another Catholic-run school, Asumbi Girls in Homa Bay had a mean score of 10.75.  Rang’ala Girls in Siaya County had a mean score of 10.5, while Mary Hill Girls in Thika had a mean score of 9.830.

Releasing the results, Prof Kaimenyi noted that there was a significant improvement in the performance, with those candidates obtaining grade A rising to 3,073, up from 2, 722 in 2013.

Overall, there were 149,717 candidates who scored grades C+ and above, which is the minimum university entry point.

Among the qualifiers were 88,299 males and 61,418 females, constituting a ratio of 59: 41. In the previous year, there were 123,365 university qualifiers.

Not all qualifiers will get places in public universities, however, but many will be absorbed in private universities or opt to study abroad.

Similarly, the number of those scoring D- and E went down to 53,352 against the previous figure of 62,835.

Candidates with these scores are technically locked out of professional training and at best can pursue opportunities in vocational institutions.

CHEATING

Prof Kaimenyi said cases of exam cheating went down from 3,812 last year to 2,975. However, he said the vice must be weeded out to give credibility to the exams.

At least five national schools were among those whose results were cancelled due to cheating, but their names were not given.

The CS listed some of the subjects that registered improved performance as English, geography, chemistry, power mechanics and drawing and design.

Mathematics, physics, business studies and aviation were the subjects in which candidates performed poorly.