By Lydia Ngoolo
The head teacher of Kari Mwailu Primary school Mathew, a public school in Makueni County which produced the top girl in Kenya has said individualized teaching is what helped the school produce the top girl in Kenya.
“There was healthy competition among the teachers. Every teacher could identify any weak candidate and put more efforts on them. They could as well help the others then frequent testing of the candidates. We could motivate the teachers and candidates” said the school head.
Masaku who spoke to Education News at Wote town was transferred to the school in 2018. He said he did not expect his candidate to top countrywide but he knew his pupils will pass the exams since they had completed syllabus and devised other ways of teaching and revising.
“After every two and half days we could test, mark and revise thoroughly,” he added.
The jovial teacher said he was following results from the screen seated in one of the cafe’s and to his surprise he just saw the name of his pupil then school followed. ‘I just screamed literally, yes I screamed and then endless congratulatory phone calls followed,’ he said amid laughter.
He said Faith Mumo Kawee the best overall candidate in Kenya with 433 marks was disciplined pupil and the school head girl.
“We could set exams for them and outsource the exams, funny enough Faith was defeated thrice towards KCPE but she never gave up. She has been a bright girl. She defeated the others but the good thing is that they also performed well,” said Masaku.
The school is located six kilometers off main road in Kiboko zone deep in the forest something which helps the school concentrate fully in learning. The environment is cool despite wild animal challenges.
“Many of our pupils are boarders. Those who don’t board are about 50 and maybe they are Kari employees’ kids. Our teachers stay in school. Movement out of school is minimized as well,” he adds.
The school has a population of 572 pupils with 19 TSC teachers and four PTAs. The number of candidates was 159. In 2019 the top candidate had 425 with this year’s top having 433.
