A Murang’a public primary school in Kandara Sub County has continued to register impressive results in national examinations despite facing numerous challenges.
Githaiti Primary school in Gaichanjiru Ward in this year scored a mean score of 345 marks emerging position two among public schools in the county.
Five of the candidates scored more than 400 marks with the best student attaining 415 marks.
Since 2014, the primary school has been leading in the sub county in national examinations.
In 2017, the school attained a mean score of 315 marks.
The school’s head teacher Mr. John Njuguna has attributed the good results to team work between parents and teachers.
Njugana told KNA that the pupils have been committed to studies despite taking their lessons in dilapidated classrooms.
He observed that since the school was established in 1987, it has rarely been renovated forcing pupils to study in earthen floor classrooms.
“Floors of our classrooms were cemented long time ago and now that have worn out forcing students to study in dusty classrooms ,” said the head teacher.
The pupils, Njuguna said don’t engage in sporting activities as the school lacks enough compound to accommodate a playground.
“The school compound is small, pupils are forced to take their lunch in their classrooms,” he noted saying teachers also share a small office that has a common table.
He continued “co-curricular activities are very crucial as they complement class work but due to shortage of facilities our pupils dont engage in them.”
Despite the numerous challenges, Njuguna said the teachers get to the school early and leave late as they engage in remedial classes.
“The dedication of teachers and the committed co-operation of pupils and parents have enabled us to keep shining despite the problems we face,” he added.
He observed that residents of Githaiti village relies on coffee farming for economic survival and has been faring poorly since the coffee sector failed.
This, he said, limits realization of infrastructural development as parents are not able to support development programmes.
The head teacher however divulged that the school has a mentorship programme that motivates both teachers and pupils to perform better.
He noted more support is needed to ensure all well performing candidates join their schools of admission saying it discourages others when their predecessors join local day schools after scoring high marks.
Macharia Kimani who is in charge of the mentorship programme said they formed the group 10 years ago that decided to support the school that was not performing well.
“We also realized that supporting education was the only way to lift our village from perennial poverty,” Kimani told KNA.
He said they also challenged parents to stop overtasking their children with home chores but give them time to concentrate on their homework.
Teachers whose subjects achieve a mean score of more than 80 percent are awarded and parents enjoy a party to celebrate their children’s performance.
“We are very proud to see our children posting such good performances. Its challenging and time consuming but worth it,” he said.
By Bernard Munyao
