The Bondo 'school of women' that refused to stay down

Ulowa Girls Secondary School in West Yimbo, Siaya County. [File, Standard]

In the fishing village of Ulowa, Bondo sub-county in Siaya, a learning institution once mocked as a “school of women” has quietly re-written its story.

Ulowa Girls Secondary School, established in 2013, has defied stigma, poverty, and hostility to produce its best Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam results yet.

When the school opened its doors, most of the learners were school dropouts or students who scored below 200 marks in KCPE exams. With makeshift classrooms and limited resources, the institution was dismissed by many as a last-resort school for girls considered “lost causes”.

“We accepted the name and used it as motivation,” says Caroline Achieng, the school’s pioneer principal.

She said their goal was to ensure every girl who came to the school could succeed, her background notwithstanding.

The first cohort sat the KCSE exams in 2016, with 19 candidates taking the test. In the following years, numbers and performance steadily grew, with 89 candidates sitting the 2025 exam.

According to the principal, the 2025 results marked a historic milestone, with the lowest grade being D-.

Among the top achievers, two scored B+, while subjects such as Geography, CRE, History, English, and Kiswahili posted remarkable results.

With a mean of 4.83 in the 2025 KCSE, up from 4.48 in 2024, 20 students will be joining university.

The school management says this is the highest number of university entries since the establishment of the school.

Despite these gains, Ulowa Girls faces challenges. The school has only eight TSC teachers against a requirement of 17, and there has never been a chemistry teacher at the institution.

Many learners come from fishing communities, where poverty and early pregnancies are a threat to education.

To reduce dropout rates, the school provides support for girls who become pregnant, encouraging them to return to school.

Many day scholar students also rely on the Bondo NG-CDF bursary.

“Some girls face immense pressure at home and in the community, but we always find ways to keep them in school,” she says, adding that retention is as important as results.

Infrastructure development has been a lifeline for Ulowa Girls, with about 90 per cent of the facilities coming from the NG-CDF, with support from the national government.

The school now serves a student population of 264 in a two-stream system. Committed teachers and supportive Board of Management members, led by Angeline Oduor, have played a critical role in the school’s transformation.

“This school is living proof that labels do not define potential. Every girl who walks through our doors has the chance to dream big and to achieve those dreams,” adds the principal.