Kebirigo Boys Secondary school in Nyamira South Sub county has got its first ever grade A in KCSE exam, thanks to a simple slogan introduced by its Chief principal Clement Nyang’acha.
A slogan can be described as a memorable motto or phrase used in a school, political, commercial, religious, and/or other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members or a defined target group.
Nyang’acha said he came up with the idea after he
realized the school had never attained a grade A in the previous form four examinations, after he was posted to the school one year ago.
Addressing the press at the institution, Nyang’acha said the slogan “Operation Grade A Lazima (OGAL)’ has finally borne fruit after two last year’s candidates attained straight As plain followed by four A Minuses.
The chief principal said the school had 309 candidates out of whom 303 scored C+ and above, with the rest getting C plain.
“Although our mean grade was 8.4 which was lower than the previous year’s 8.8 score by a class of 361, we have made a great stride and will work on improving the mean this year,” he said.
Nyang’acha said the school which has more than 60 teachers, and a number of support staff also incorporated other strategies of arriving at the goal including personalized attention for those at the top, whom
he referred to as the ‘iron group’ and those at the bottom to bridge the gap.
Among other measures they put in place was benchmarking with the existing good performing schools and also close monitoring of students’ activities through a teacher surveillance group.
The school deputy principal in charge of administration Denis Okoth Ouko said equally groups of 9 students were formed and allocated to individual teachers, who also acted as their school parents.
This, he said, created conducive environment for the students to consult on their area of weaknesses.
On his part, Kereri Girls’ secondary school Deputy Principal in charge of academics Kennedy
Gechana to call on his counterparts to accommodate students with lower KCPE marks saying they too performed well, when given equal opportunities with those who beat them at the primary school level.
Gechana decried the culture of enlisting only those with good marks when admitting students saying the greatest motivation to good performance is the student’s personal determination to excel.
Citing examples of students with less than 300 KCPE marks who later on achieved direct entry to university, the principal said his 20 year experience in service had shown that with proper guidance, even those with less
marks can perform well in Form four exam.
“Some of those with lower marks are bright students and can do well with determination and by avoiding bad companies, irrespective of the primary school they attend,” he said.
Gechana said Kereri Girls’ school had around 15 candidates who had come with less than 300 marks from primary, but most of them scored
above B- in KCSE, with the best in that category of 292 marks emerging with B+.
He said Gechana said the institution does not consider such learners with
less than 300 KCPE marks as weak, but rather they put them under same category with the rest, while trying to address their individual challenges.
He said the school’s 615 candidates had at least 478 candidates qualifying for direct intake to university, while 135 will attend middle level colleges and work their way up. Only one of the candidates did not do her exam due
to sickness.
Meanwhile, Kereri girls posted 9A-, 108 B+, 91 B plain, 100 C+, with the least scoring D plain, translating into mean of 7.66 points, an improvement from the previous 7.3.
Elsewhere, Mobamba mixed secondary school in Nyaribari Masaba Sub County, Deputy Principal Stanley Mageto has underscored the importance of concerted efforts among all stake holders for success in any learning institution.
Mageto noted that collaboration with the community and the clergy to guide the students on good morals, made the institution to perform well in last year’s exam.
By Jane Naitore
