Hard work and discipline steer Musingu High School to glory

KAKAMEGA: For the over 1,189 students of Musingu High School, the secret to academic and co-curriculum glory is discipline, hard work and being good listeners.

The school, which was started in 1969 and sponsored by Friends Church Quakers, has been doing well in national exams over the years and was second in Kakamega County in last year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).

According to Elphas Luvaso, the school’s principal, students who want to join the school must demonstrate a high degree of discipline and hard work and be ready to be guided by the school’s values of peace, integrity, equality and simplicity. The school’s vision, which is to develop individuals useful to society.

“Our staff takes great pride in providing a safe and secure learning environment while at the same time offering an array of exciting and challenging academic programmes. Our entire staff is committed to establishing a school environment that allows students to flourish and to grow intellectually, emotionally and socially,” Luvaso said.

Their mission is to create and sustain an enabling environment for one to identify and nurture talent by focusing on both academic and extra-curriculum activities.

“Our school offers a secure and caring environment where there is equal opportunity for each student to realise their potential and our greatest pride is to see that when our students leave the institution after four years, they join the larger society as honest, responsible, hardworking and patriotic citizens,” he said.

The deputy principal Kenneth Muhanji attributes the school’s good performance to good relationship between the students and the teachers. They have started what they call Elimu Mashinani.

“We have put up tents near the classrooms (Elimu Mashinani) where teachers operate from. They do not have to sit in the office or staff room, but in the tents where they are easily be accessible to students who need some help. This has also created a good environment for learning,” Muhanji said.

Muhanji revealed that teachers are always in the compound day and night and students always engage in co-curriculum activities, have family units organised by guiding and counselling masters.

“The family units comprise 15 to 25 students where they discuss topics affecting them socially. Thursday is meant for dormitory meetings and Wednesday class meetings where they air their grievances and get solutions. They also have a student counsel chosen and elected by the students to listen and help solve problems arising before teachers and peer counsellors intervene. This helps in reducing indiscipline cases, making everyone focused,” he said.

He added that with a supportive board of management, Parents Teachers Association and a principal who is always in school from 3am to 11pm, they expect excellent results. They are targeting a mean grade of 11. Their strength is in languages, sciences and mathematics.

The school encourages and rewards self-discipline whereby students work without much supervision. “Doing the right thing at the right time and at the right place sums up self-discipline. It is this self-discipline that has enabled our school to shine academically and in co-curricula activities,” Muhanji said.

Fellow students guide and counsel those who may not be towing the line. This is done through student leaders who form a hierarchy that ensures free-flow of communication between the administration and the students. Discipline therefore is everybody’s responsibility, with each student being his brother’s keeper. My office, however, invites parents and guardians to sort out indiscipline cases that impede academic performance,” the deputy principal.

Bernard Oloo, a teacher in charge Information and Communication Technology (ICT) said all students are introduced to computer literacy in Form One, which is also offered at KCSE level.

“We want to help students be independent and encourage them to aim for the highest standards of behaviour and to foster moral and social values...,” Oloo said.