By Stephen Muthini
Amidst the challenges associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, schools in Machakos defied odds to maintain good performance in the recently released Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination results.
Machakos Primary School and EarlyBird Academy in Machakos County broke their own records in the KCPE to post impressive results.
Machakos Primary School had 17 pupils who scored above 400 marks while Early Bird Academy also broke a 371 record they set in 2017 to post a mean of 372.7.
The previous record for Machakos Primary School was 10 pupils with above 400 marks recorded in the 2020 KCPE.
Machakos Primary School Head Teacher Richard Kitheka and his EarlyBird Academy counterpart Mr. Augustine Musyoka said they had to create extra time with the pupils including doing online tutorials in order to achieve the results.
“It was not easy to get such results because of Covid-19 but we managed 17 pupils with above 400 marks. This is the best performance ever,” said Kitheka.
Top pupil, Andasha Gerald who scored 416 marks said she would like to join Alliance Girls High school. She encouraged those who did not perform well not to give up hope as there would be other opportunities in life.
Mr. Musyoka of EarlyBird Academy said in addition to creating extra time, the pupils and teachers were well-motivated with outings to various locations where they relieved academic stress accumulated due to the crash programme.
The School Director, David Muchina said there were challenges to do with fee payment due to the Covid-19 pandemic which saw many parents and guardians loose jobs but the school accommodated pupils with fees balances so as to have ample time to revise for their exams.
Other schools in Machakos County which performed exemplary included Ikombe Day and Boarding Primary School which had eight pupils posting above 400 marks and Machakos Academy which had 5 pupils with more than 400 marks.
