Coast giants record dismal performance

By Ngumbao Kithi and Philip Mwakio

Sheikh Khalifa High School in Coast Province stole the limelight in last years KCSE exams.

It produced 23 of the first 100 students and the teachers promised to retain the position.

Its closest rival, Allidina Visram High School, produced18 students of the 100 top students in the province.

However, there were no celebrations at Allidina Visram as the school described the results as disastrous.

Teachers who refused to be named said they expected their school to compete at the national level and not at the provincial level.

The top student in the province was Parpia Hafsa Abdulshakur from Aga Khan High School who scored 86.757 to be at position 95 nationally. Salyani Yassin Suleiman who scored 86.733 was second and was ranked 96 nationally.

At Allidina, students silently discussed the results in groups.

The deputy principal of Sheikh Khalifa, Fairuz Abdilhadi Salim, said the school has been doing well since 1998. Girls did better than boys in the school.

Shared positions

Two schools, Light Academy and Kenyatta High School, Taita, which produced six students in the top one hundred each, shared the third position. For first time in years, Mama Ngina Girls performed dismally and teachers attributed it to the number of candidates who came from private schools and academies.

At the Memon High School, students broke into song and dance after information reached them that they had produced the second best student in the region.

The school Principal, Joseph Mwangi said they were poised for better results in future.

Meanwhile, out of the top hundred students nationally, two came from Coast schools.

Parpia Hafsa Abdulshakur from Aga Khan High School scored 86.757 to be number 95 nationally and number one in Coast. Parpia said she wants to study medicine at the university.

Her teachers described her as a hardworking and obedient student.

"She was poised to perform even much better and we expected her to be top in the whole nation. Her performance should serve as an inspiration to other girls,’’ Mrs Mariam Lavinja, Principal at Aga Khan High School said. An elated Hafsa had to be fetched from the Aga Khan Academy, where she has been enrolled for an International Bacalaureate (IB) diploma programme class to the school to receive the news.

"I am grateful to God for having made my dream possible. I have made my teachers, my mother and siblings happy,’’ she said at her old school as teachers and fellow students mobbed her. Her class teacher, Mr Muiruri Mbau, described her as an outstanding student who was focused and well mannered.

Big success

Hafsa’s mother, Mrs Zubeda Abdulshakur Parpia could not hide her joy. She hugged her daughter and thanked teachers at the school for guiding her through to success.

Meanwhile, Salyani Yassin Suleiman, who was second, was the top boy in the region with an index of 86.733. He was ranked 96 nationally.

Salyani said that he hoped to study actuarial sciences at the university.

His father, Mr Suleiman Salyani credited his sons’ success to determination and hard work.

" On top of it all, it runs in the family as all my children have been doing considerably well in school,’’ the happy father said.