Top Coast pupil fails to secure slot in dream school

Peter Okal, the top pupil from St John’s First Baptist Shonda Primary School in Likoni, Mombasa County, celebrates after he got 404 marks in this year's KCPE exams. [Gideon Maundu, Standard]

Coast’s top pupil in this year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education, Derrick Mweru, is a sad boy after he failed to secure a Form One slot in his dream school. 

“I wanted to join Alliance High, which was my first choice,” said Mweru, who sat the exams at Kenya Navy Primary School in Mombasa. He topped the region with 435 marks out of the possible 500.

The placement results of secondary schools released yesterday showed that Mweru was selected to join Kapsabet Boys High School in Rift Valley, also a national school.

First choice

“I believed joining Alliance would enable me realise my dream of becoming a doctor,” he said.

Several other top performers from Coast were admitted to leading schools like Maseno, Alliance Girls, Kenya High, Mang’u, Maranda and Loreto Girls Secondary School.

All in all, most pupils from Coast region were happy after they were selected to join their first-choice schools.

Comparatively, Tana River performed better than anticipated, sending many of its candidates to top schools. But its own national schools attracted very few pupils from outside the region.

Overall, Coast’s national schools such as Mama Ngina Girls and Shimo la Tewa Boys appear unattractive to top candidates from the region, who prefer upcountry schools.

National schools in Kwale are Kwale Boys and Matuga Girls while Lamu’s are Lamu Boys and Lamu Girls. The national schools in Taita Taveta are Bura Girls and Kenyatta High School (Mwatate) while Tana River’s national schools are Mau Mau Boys and Ngao Girls Secondary School.

Kilifi’s national schools are Ribe Boys and Bahari Girls Schools. [By Ernest Ndunda, Hassan Barisa, Ishaq Jumbe and Renson Mnyamwezi]