It was jubilation over the weekend after Mary Hills Girls High School from Kiambu County emerged the overall winner at the 61st Central Region Kenya Science Engineering Fair (KSEF) held at Nyandarua High School in Nyandarua County.
In the competition, Salient Secondary School, from Nyandarua County, was the best in the mixed school category, while Njumbi Boys, from Muranga County, emerged the best in the boys’ school category.
Among the five counties from the central region, Kiambu County took the lead, followed by Murang’a County, while Nyandarua, Kirinyaga and Nyeri counties trailed behind the two, respectively.
The two-day Science and Engineering Fair attracted over 100 students from different schools drawn from the five counties of the Central region.
The Chief Judge, Dr. James Nderitu, said the students’ ideas were novel while, at the same time, identifying pitfalls in the projects that should be addressed before they proceed to the national level competition.
Dr. Nderitu called on teachers to assist the qualifiers to fine-tune their projects, adding that as they proceeded to national level competition, they were going as a team and therefore should guide the learners since their success will be a shared success for the Central Region.
While closing the fair, Central Regional KSEF Chairlady, Dr. Angles Ngure, appreciated the organisers and the students for making the fair a success while acknowledging the level of discipline displayed by participants.
Dr. Ngure commended the students for portraying a high level of creativity and innovation, noting that the projects were of high quality.
She, however, advised them to fine-tune their projects as guided by the chief judge to be able to compete competitively with other regions during the national level competition.
She further encouraged those who did not qualify to proceed to the national level not to be discouraged, saying the event gave them an opportunity to learn new things, grow in one area or another and have a chance to interact with their colleagues from other schools.
The KSEF chairperson advised them not to despair on their projects but to work at improving them.
Dr. Ngure further advised the participants to further work on their projects, saying they can become a source of livelihood in the future, citing the M-Pesa idea, which has come to revolutionise money transactions in the country and beyond.
The KSEF had entries covering diverse categories, including robotics, computer science, applied technology, and engineering, among others.
In each category, those proceeding to the national level KSEF, which will be held at Kangaru Boys in Embu County in two weeks’ time, are qualifiers in positions one to four.
By Kimani Tirus
