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| PM Raila Odinga presents a trophy to Principal of Maranda high School, Boaz Owino during the closing of Kenya Secondary Schools heads teachers Association annual conference at Wildwaters in Mombasa. Mr Owino was voted the Principal of the year. |
By AUGUSTINE ODUOR
When he rose up to address his colleagues on Friday he said: “I am the Maranda High School principal you have always heard about.”
“I know many of you have read about me in the papers. Some of you have wanted to see me and here I am,” he told the more than 6,000 secondary school head teachers gathered in Mombasa.
This is Boaz Owino, the man behind the best-ranked school in last year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination results.
But perhaps the confidence and pride he exuded is a result of hard work that finally saw him emerge the Principal of The Year Award, (Poya), an annual award given to school heads who have demonstrated excellence. Without mincing his words, the 50-year-old who has been the principal of Maranda High School since 2007 calmly but fluently spoke of the successes his school has scored ever since.
He said: “The number of grades ‘A’ and ‘A’- have significantly improved from two ‘A’ and 30 ‘A’- in 2007, to seven and 65 in 2008, then 20 and 75 in 2009. This has further risen to 51 and 95 in 2010, 97 and 104 last year.”
The packed hall rose to cheer up. He went on: “The school’s mean score has risen steadily from 8.982 in 2007 to 9.926 in 2008 and 10.09 in 2009 to 10.56 in 2010 and a national record of 11.2871 last year.”
Steady rise
And one more thing: “The ranking of the school nationally has also been improving steadily from 56 in 2007 to 17 in 2008, and 13 in 2009 to four in 2010, and position one last year,” he said.
With this performance, the holder of a Master of Arts degree in Literature from Kenyatta University said the number of students joining public universities through the Joint Admission Board also increased significantly.
The school has 1,540 students – 290 of whom will be sitting for their KCSE this year. Realising the teachers were shocked by the statistics, he posed to say: “I have ensured the teachers are fully aware of what is expected of them in terms of discipline. I also provide relevant documents in all departments such as the TSC code of conduct, which are pinned on the notice boards.
I also hold regular briefs with the teaching staff to generally remind them of the expectations of the employer. I also fully involve the Board of Governors disciplinary committee and the school disciplinary committee in coming up with policies on discipline.”
