Alliance High School appeared to have registered the best performance countrywide in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations, whose results were released on Tuesday.
The national school in Kiambu County had a mean score of 11.402 and was followed by Maranda in Siaya County, which had a mean score of 11.401 and Kabarak, in Nakuru County with 11.358.
Other schools that emerged among top performers were Mang’u, a national school in Kiambu County and Starehe Boys in Nairobi County.
Maryhill School, which was ranked 9th nationally in 2013 with a mean score of 10.6919, dropped to 9.830 last year while Mang’u had a mean score of 10.751, up from 10.150 the previous year.
For the first time in history, a candidate from Mandera County scored an A, the first in the history of KCSE.
Ibrahim Abdi Ali, a student at Sheikh Ali Secondary School in the troubled Rhamu sub-county scored 81 points.
The top three schools will be sending an army of 1,067 candidates to university next year, assuming a cut-off of B (plain). Of these, 470 will be from Maranda, 332 from Alliance and 265 from Kabarak.
Kabarak High recorded the highest number of candidates with grade A (134) compared to Alliance’s 123 and Maranda’s 120.
Alliance, besides having 123 straight A, had 119 candidates with A-, 62 with B+, 28 with B, 11 with B-, three with C+ and one C.
Three candidates had a mean score of 84.
TOP TEN CANDIDATES
The principal, Mr David Kariuki, said: “If we had ranking of students as was the case in the past, we are sure these three students would have been among the top 10 candidates in the country.”
Maranda High School in Siaya County, rising from the ashes after its results were cancelled in 2013, had 120 candidates with grade A, 145 with A-, B 65, B- 35, C 5 and 1 C, giving it a mean score of 11.401. Principal Boaz Owino said the results vindicated his school.
Kabarak had 134 A, 114 A-, 17 B+, 8 B and 1 B- in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations (KCSE), translating into a mean score of 11.358.
School Principal Henry Kiplagat described it as the best performance in history and attributed the success to good discipline by the students and dedication by the teachers.
Another traditional good performer, Starehe Boys Centre, recovered from last year’s slump to post an impressive mean mark of 10.65.
Starehe Principal Peter Ndung’u said: “We are very happy that out of 248 candidates, 246 will be joining universities.”
In Nyeri County, St. Mary’s Boys Secondary School outperformed giants like Kagumo and Nyeri to post a mean score of 9.728. Kagumo High School had a mean of 9.59.
POSTED BEST RESULTS
In Meru County, Meru School has posted the best results since it was founded in 1956.
As was the case with the Standard Eight examinations, candidates or schools were not ranked, following the ban by Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi, who insisted the practice was fraught with many shortcomings and encouraged unethical practices.
According to a survey by the Nation, the top performers were national schools. Boys also seemed to have fared far better than girls.
Among the top performers
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