Schools that will send most students to universities

By Education Team

National and top provincial schools will send the largest number of students to public universities in the next intake.

A survey by The Standard reveals that most of the candidates in those school scored between grade A and B+ in KCSE exams. Inevitably, the students will take up most of the slots in premier courses such as medicine, engineering, actuarial science, law and architecture.

In many of the schools almost all students scored at least the minimum university entry grade of C+.

On the other side were district and low cost private schools, which made up the bulk of the 5,599 institutions that sat the exam. Many in this category will not take even one student to university through the Joint Admissions Board (Jab).

Top performer Alliance High School, which had 19 candidates in the top 100 nationally, could take 210 students to university through Jab. The school had a mean score of 10.94 with 104 candidates scoring mean grade A. Another 65 scored A-, 26 (B+), 15 (B), and five (B-). Two students scored mean grade C+ and the last candidate had a C.

Releasing last year’s KCSE results in which some little-known schools posted candidates among the top 100 performers nationally and regionally, Education Minister Sam Ongeri said it indicated a narrowing of the performance gap between district and top schools.

But a deeper analysis of the results show that performances of little-known schools such as Wei Wei in the Rift Valley that had a student in the top ten nationally and Maasai High School that had the best mean score in Maths and Biology and an overall mean score of 10.54 was the exception rather than the rule.

While announcing this year’s university intake Jab reported that next year’s cut off point will be a B of 65 points.

With only 81,048 (24 per cent) candidates of over 330,000 attaining a mean grade of C+, the minimum entry point to university education, it is clear that district and low cost schools and poor performing provincial schools are not out of the woods.

Inequality between schools

Kenya National Examinations Council data reveal that high levels of inequality between national and provincial schools on one hand and lower- end category of schools.

One such top performer is Mang’u High, a national school in Central Province, which produced the best candidate in last year’s Form Four examination. Principal, Henry Raichena said 177 of 199 candidates scored at least a B of 65 points. He said 40 students scored A, 77 got A-, 43 scored B+ while 24 got B, seven of whom scored a B of less than 64 points. Seven students scored B-, two (C+) and four (C). The last two candidates in the school that had a mean score of 10.44 scored a C.

Celebrations at Starehe Boys Centre were muted after the perennial top performer had 11 candidates in the top 100 nationally. But the overall performance of the national institution where all the 206 candidates attained at least grade C+ is an envy of many schools. At the top performer in Nairobi, 54 candidates scored A, A- (87), B+ (31), B (23), B- (six) and C+(five).

It was much harder to discern the excellent performance of Kenya High by looking at the scores of the top 100 performers nationally, but with a mean score of 10.18 the national school could send a record 172 candidates to public universities. Twenty-eight candidates attained a mean grade of A, A- (70), B+(41), B (33). B- (12), C+ (7) and one C.

Much has been said about the poor performance of girls in the exam but the results of Alliance Girls High School paint a different picture. Out of the 182 candidates who sat the exam at the national school in Central Province 168 are guaranteed slots in public universities, if the entry grade stands at B plain. Of the candidates 30 had A, 67 (A-), 46 (B+), 25 (B), 14 (B-), six (C+) and four (C). The school had a mean score of 10.10.

The resurgent Nairobi School, which had 15 candidates among top 100 performers in Nairobi, could send 195 of 262 candidates to university. Candidates at the national school that scored a mean of 9.48 managed 18 A, 67(A-) 56 (B+)), 54 (B), 39 (B-), 16 (C+), (nine (C) and three (C-).

At the rival Lenana School 143 of 231 scored a mean grade of B plain and above. The national school had eight As, 54 (A-), 50 (B+), 41(B), 47(B-) and 21 (C+). At the school with a mean grade of 9.04 eleven candidates scored C , five (C—), two (D+) and two (D ).

Newcomer Starehe Girls Secondary School announced its arrival in the big leagues with a mean score of 9.94. Of the 80 candidates who sat the exam at the national school, nine scored A, 23 9 (A-), 18 B+, 18B, (B- 2 (C+) and one C.

University

The other national schools in Nairobi and Central Province will also send most of their candidates to university. Central’s Loreto High School Limuru had a mean score of 9.98. Of the 184 candidates 27 scored A, 52 (A-), 45 (B+), 23 (B), 27 (B-), eight C+ and two C.

Mary Hill School in Thika had a mean score of 9.26 with three candidates scoring A, 16 (A-), 40 (B+), 38 (B), 23 (B-), nine (C+) and two (C).

Nairobi’s Moi Forces Academy had a mean score of 8.74. Of the 201 candidates eight scored A, 29 (A-), 41 (B+), 32(B), 40(B-), 26(C+), 16(C) and 9 (C-).

But it was not just national schools, which shone in Nairobi and Central. Although it had only one candidate in the top 100 national Precious Blood Riruta was clearly among the top ten performing schools nationally. With mean score of 10.39 the top provincial schools in Nairobi had 12 A 36 (A-), 28 (B+), seven (B) and nine (B)-.

— Harold Ayodo, Dorothy Otieno, Francis Ngige and Wairimu Kamande