A number of schools in Mombasa both public and private recorded significant improvement in last year’s KCSE compared to previous years, a situation which has been attributed to enhanced cooperation across board.
Sheikh Khalifa ranks the best school in the region with a mean score of 9.13.
The Principal Rishard Rajab Ramadhan said, “We managed to do well albeit below our target. We have regained our position as top in coast and 38 nationally. Our aim is to move from number 38 to top 10 nationally.”
A section of leaders in Mombasa have however sounded an alarm over elements of rogue students with bad behaviour who have continued to water down the good performances by their colleagues.
Allidina Visram, a sub county school is among the schools which have posted a remarkable improvement in last year’s KCSE result.
The A student Anas Yusuf said he pushed himself studying hard and praying to God to achieve the result.
“I worked hard for it during the day and night. I expected more but God can only give you what he wants. I would want to pursue Medicine after this,” Yusuf said, noting that mentorship programme and revision material provided by the County Government of Mombasa also fueled his success.
The School Principal Dishon Indimuli confirmed that this is the first time in close to 10 years; the school has produced an A minus.
Allidina also produced five B+ nine B, 15 B- and 18 C+.
Big improvement
“We have come from far and this is a big improvement, so we have a reason to celebrate. The last time this school had an A minus was in 2015. This has been achieved again this year. The numbers of students who will qualify directly to university in 2023 were 27 this time they are 48 through these efforts. We appreciate this and we believe this will go even higher in coming years,” Indimuli said.
Allidina was among the academic giants that used to fly the Coast academic flag with a series of top performances alongside other top schools like Mama Ngina Girls high school, Aga Khan, and Shimo la Tewa.
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However, in the recent past, the school’s glory appeared to be fading fast, recording poor results.
But Indimuli explains that the government’s move to downgrade the school’s status from initial provincial school to sub county school resulted in the drastic decline in performance.
“We used to be a provincial school and now we were downgraded to a sub county. Initially we used to pick students with KCPE marks of 350 and above. However, since our status was downgraded to sub county, now we admit students with any marks. Last year we got a student with 99 marks. You see this is what affects the performance,” the Principal said.
Mombasa County Education Executive Dr Mbwarali Kame said most schools have improved compared to 2022, 2023, and 2024.
“We are happy to continue supporting education for improved results,” he said.
Jomvu MP Baddy Twalib who celebrated a string of sterling performances by beneficiaries of scholarship programmes under Jomvu NG-CDF said there are signs of remarkable improvement in performance thanks to the scholarships.
He singled out the case of Hellen Ndanu, a total orphan who benefitted from the programme.
She did her KCPE at St Elizabeth Academy where she scored 375 out of 500 and went to Matuga High where she scored an A plain.
Another beneficiary of the programme Zackary Wesonga went to Maranda and scored an A minus.
Wesonga who hails from Bangladesh informal settlements said he scored 365 in KCPE and was called to join Maranda High but he was unable because of fees and went to Charles Lwanga.
“Later I got a full scholarship to join Maranda where I performed well and I am really grateful for this,” he said.
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According to Twalib, several schools within Jomvu have shown signs of progress. In Miritini Complex for instance there was no single student who qualified to join University in 2023 but now there is one.
“Last year Kajembe Secondary, their top candidate got a C plus but today they have a B minus. In Miritini Secondary, only nine qualified to university last year today 12 have qualified to university and 34 others will qualify for tertiary learning. In Jomvu Girls in the past the top student had a C plain but now they have a C plus. We have supported a number of students throughout their secondary education, and we have agreed that we will continue to support them. I want to encourage stakeholders to support this programme because this is like future insurance. From this programme we shall produce engineers, doctors and other professionals,” he said.
Poor performance
He, however, noted that some rogue students are taking the region’s education down the ditches of poor performance noting that despite improved performance in some schools, some grades are regrettably underwhelming.
“Many students are performing well but they are being dragged behind by others who don’t want to work hard. They come and register and then they run away until examination day. In Kajembe Secondary, the top student has B minus but there are some 50 Es and 43 Ds and D minus. This is what is letting the performance down. We are coming up with private centres to isolate those who don’t want to learn with the rest to avoid erosion of the good gains,” he said.
At Qubaa Muslim School which ranked fifth in Coast region with a mean score of 8.51 the Director Zafer Elen hinted that a peaceful learning environment is key to their success.
“In the last 10 years we have improved a lot and especially in the last five years we have been number one in Mvita Sub-county and number three in Mombasa. This has been the collective effort of the teachers, students and parents. It was not easy to reach this level. Our school environment is very peaceful and education is very communal,” Elen said.
By Hilton Mwabili
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