St. Paul’s Lugari Boys, a school in Lugari Ward of Lugari Constituency, is looking forward to this year’s national exam to reclaim its once prestigious position.
A total of 68 candidates are sitting for this year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KSCE), the lowest number in the history of the school.
This is a culmination of the institution’s past experiences that affected its performance and likely turned away the local community.
Mr. Wilson Olenja, the Director of Studies (DoS), said KCSE 2022 is an opportunity for the school to vindicate itself from the bad name gained from those past experiences, which he said are partly to blame, although there are emerging issues that also need to be addressed.
[07:47, 23/11/2022] Sam Oduor: [07:47, 23/11/2022] Sam Oduor:He said the school aims bigger and better this time round, and his projection is a min score of between 4.8 and 5.3, which will be a significant rise from the previous exam, in which the school managed a min of 4.4 when 78 students sat for the KCSE 2021.
Mr. Olenja also projects that 20 students will score university entry grades, which will be an improvement from 2021, when 12 students managed a C+ (plus) and above.
Looking five years back, in 2020, the school garnered a min of 5.01 and managed to send 18 out of 111 students to university. That was a great improvement compared to 2019 when the school got a min of 3.9 and managed to send 11 out of 93 students to the university.
In 2018, seven students out of 102 scored a university entry grade while the school received a min grade of 4.04, a slight improvement compared to 2017, when it scored a min grade of 3.1 and managed to take five out of 119 students to the university.
“This is a zigzag kind of performance, meaning we have not been consistent with the results,” Mr. Olenja said.
[07:47, 23/11/2022] Sam Oduor: [07:47, 23/11/2022] Sam Oduor:In this year’s KCSE 2022, the school targets moving up to position 3 in the constituency and is only taking Bishop Njenga Girls and Holy Family Musembe Secondary as serious competitors.
“Teachers have given their best and taken the students through thorough revisions. The boys agreed to sacrifice an hour for extra studies and some hours on Saturdays and Sundays,” Mr. Olenja said.
The DoS, who is largely concerned about the welfare of students in the school, expressed frustration with the low number of admissions the school has been making lately and called upon the local community to step up.
He said the school is well equipped with facilities and infrastructure that can even support an additional 500 students.
[07:47, 23/11/2022] Sam Oduor: [07:47, 23/11/2022] Sam Oduor:St. Paul’s Lugari Boys has a total of 256 students.
“St. Paul’s Boys has everything it takes to be the school one wishes for. Let the new MP, Nabii Nabwera, in his quest for quality education, market this school because it bears the name of his constituency,” the DoS said.
The following table summarizes the school’s performance in the last five years.
KCSE | Candidature | Min Score | University Entries |
2021 | 78 | 4.38 | 12 |
2020 | 111 | 5.01 | 18 |
2019 | 93 | 3.94 | 11 |
2018 | 102 | 4.04 | 7 |
2017 | 119 | 3.19 | 5 |
…….
Lugari MP Nabii Nabwera is at the forefront of boosting education levels in his constituency. In the last few months since he took office, he has laid out some strategies to ensure schools improve under his administration.
In this feature about five schools preparing for the coming Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), we will be looking back five years to assess the schools’ performance. We also asked school heads about their projections for the coming KCSE 2022 exams.
The schools we selected are Bishop Sulumeti Girls in Lumakanda Ward, St. Paul’s Lugari Boys and Mufutu Secondary School in Lugari Ward, St. Cecelia Girls and St. Augustine’s Mlimani in Mautuma Ward, and Lukhokho Secondary School in Lwandeti Ward.
The schools were selected based on criteria of ranking as well as notable factors such as regional balance and unique educational aspects.
Sam Oduor is the editor-in-chief at the Western Kenya Times who leverages the power of the Internet in telling stories that shape opinions.