Top KCPE pupils take limousine ride to their new schools

Faith Watiri waving her former colleagues at Marura primary school before she left for Limuru Girls High School in a limousine. She had scored 378 marks in a public school. PHOTO BY BONIFACE GIKANDI.

MURANGA: A mentorship programme started by professionals in Kaharati to boost the standards of education in the area has started bearing fruit.

Thursday, there was a pomp and colour at Kaharati and Marura primary schools in Makuyu sub-county as residents turned up to see off two students admitted to national schools.

The students, Milton Muchene (Kaharati Primary School) and Faith Watiri (Marura Primary School), were escorted to the institutions in a limousine hired by the Kaharati Development Association and were also given cash awards.

The two will pursue their secondary school education at Makueni Boys and Limuru Girl's high schools respectively.

Kaharati Development Association Chairman Antony Chege said they launched the programme to improve the standards of education in the area after decades of poor showing in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education and the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations.

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Mr Chege said the initiative had also received support from area MPs led by Kigumo MP Jamleck Kamau, who had pledged to pay school fees for several students from poor backgrounds.

"We are replicating the strategies implemented in Kigumo that saw the sub-county emerge number one in Murang'a. This was achieved due to efforts by all the stakeholders," said Chege.

He said the leadership in Murang'a was committed to ensuring the number of students admitted to public universities from the area double.

Chege raise concern over the rising cost of secondary education and called on the National Assembly to intervene and ensure the charges are reduced so that students from less privileged backgrounds can also have a chance to continue with their education.

"Some national schools are purported to have hidden charges of up to Sh100,000 which many of the parents cannot afford," said Chege.

Murang'a County government and Murang'a County Initiative, a group of professionals, also run programmes aimed at improving the standards of education in the county.