National school head teachers had been advised to scale up their local benchmarking to the best-performing international schools in developed countries.
Former Alliance High School Principal Dr Christopher Khaemba, who also holds an honorary degree for his outstanding contribution to education, advised principals to widen their scope by engaging with top-performing schools in advanced countries to enhance their quality of education.
“Stop localising your quality of education and programs by engaging with your top-performing partners within your neighbourhoods, but widen up your horizon by borrowing ideas from the best schools in developed nations,” Dr Khaemba stated.
He said benchmarking with schools in advanced nations would not only transform and improve the standard of education in your schools, but the borrowed programs would also trickle down to other local schools, thereby benefiting the entire society.
“Some of your teachers would take the best practices when transferred to other schools, and others would benchmark with you since you will be their role model, and hence the entire country would systematically change with concepts of quality of education that meet international standards,” he said.
He advised principals and stakeholders to identify weaknesses and challenges in their institution’s academic performance and seek the best ways to improve them by learning from some of the world’s best performers.
Dr Khaemba, the founder and Director of Nova-Pioneer Schools, noted that schools from advanced countries evolved through the same challenges and have since improved upon them to become the modern world’s academic game changers.
He challenged principals to consolidate their operations in schools, write proposals on how to enhance academic performance, make a budget and outsource facilitation from school alumni, political leaders, and well-wishers under corporate social responsibility.
He narrated how he defied the odds to make his former school, Alliance High School, resemble another Starehe Boys Centre by copying and adapting their modus operandi programs, benchmarking against them when he took over three decades ago.
“When I took over in the early 1990s, Alliance was in position two to four in national results. I didn’t want to benchmark with the then trailblazers Starehe Boys Centre and make my school another Starehe, hence I decided to visit some top schools in Europe and the United States of America,” he disclosed.
Speaking to parents of Tenwek High School in Bomet County during this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), Dr. Khaemba revealed, amongst other ideas, he learned and introduced in his school, including stopping corporal punishment, clustering students into groups of ten with one teacher and a parent, to manage and support them closely.
Dr. Khaemba, the chief guest, was hosted by his former staff member and the current school Principal, Mutali Chesebe, the Parents Teachers Association Chairlady, Dr. Betty Kosgei, and the long-serving and outgoing Board of Governance Chairman, Rev. Reuben Koech.
The math and physics senior academician narrated how he convinced and moved government authorities to outlaw corporal punishment in schools.
However, Dr.Khaemba didn’t now he striked a wrong chode after revealing that he was the genesis of an indelible mark made over the ban on corporal banishment in schools.
“Did I do the right thing when I convinced the government authorities to outlaw the corporal banishment in school?” the soft-smiling and soft-spoken Dr Khaemba posed.
He stirred murmurs from the parents, already sharply divided over corporal punishment. Some are yearning for the immediate reintroduction, while others want alternative ways to tackle the rising cases of indiscipline in some schools.
In the same breath, Chesebe stated that the current generation can be managed only through programs and activities aimed at a particular objective at a given time.
“Even if one is given a gun, he/she will not manage over 2000 plus students in this generation alone. It is only through concerted efforts of stakeholders with laid down programs and activities to occupy their space at a given time, to achieve a particular goal,” Chesebe said.
Separately, while addressing students, Dr Khaemba advised them to utilise their time, facilities, and heed the guidance of their resourceful teachers and parents to acquire quality education.
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“We are in a competent world where quality education matters, for limited opportunities are available in governments and non-government organisations globally. And it is only through innovations and entrepreneurs created by bright minds that employment will be generated in our societies,” he said.
The former defunk 1982 Kenya Air Force (KAF) soldier Dr. Khaemba was accompanied by a duel -national motivational speaker, Franciscus Masinde a German-cum- Kenya national.
Other guests included Bomet County Director of Education, Dr William Yator, and county TSC officials.
The landmark transformation witnessed in the school, ranging from academic performance and growth of the student population to the expansion of multi-million-dollar physical infrastructure under Chesebe’s stewardship, confirms and attests to the above remarks by Dr Khaemba.
Chesebe narrated the resistance he met, wholeheartedly convincing the school stakeholders to accept the school’s elevation to national school status in 2014.
“It was a tough order to convince the authorities to accept the school to be elevated to a national level. However, by sheer luck, the government in 2010 identified and directed to be made a centre for excellence for boys 2010,” he recalled.
Packages Chesebe brought after taking over leadership mantle in 2014 included prudent time management, ban on walking, benchmarking, building good rapport with parents and stakeholders, including alumni.
“When you become national, you harvest a lot from the outsiders, the government, well-wishers, friends and organisations. Dubai was not built by the Arabs, but was built by the Chinese. So do our learning institutions,” he said.
He cited an ongoing multi-million-dollar modern administration block, as well as the due LPG gas programs. He promised buses courtesy of the school alumni, including former Knut secretary Wilson Sosian, Bomet County Senator Hillary Sigei, and State Comptroller Josphat Nanok, among others.
Hardly had he finished his remarks when the guest, Masinde, offered his contributions, including sponsoring two students to attend a program in Germany every year and linking the school with other international counterparts for an exchange program.
“I will sponsor two students from this school annually to Germany. Not to dwell on it, but to move forward and succeed. I was underprivileged, and I’ve seen privileges and solutions to many challenges. Now, my mission is to link young scholars and entrepreneurs from Africa to Germany,” he confessed amid applause from the parents.
Masinde is the founder and Director of OKKI Solution, a private company whose mission and vision is to link our scholars and entrepreneurs to Germany.
“The recently bilateral agreement between President William Ruto and his German counterpart has since opened up our nation to vast opportunities and solutions to our socio-economic challenges,” he said.
Masinde, while giving the parents a brief overview of Germany, stated that he was privileged to have visited Germany, despite hailing from a humble background.
“In Germany, there is something for everyone. Free tuition and students are paid to learn. Their industries and technology are built on practicalities, not academics,” he revealed.
Tenwek has since remained a force to reckon with for its academic prowess in the region and beyond.
It has maintained its steady performance, with a mean grade of 7.432 in 2016 and 8.174 in 2020. However, it recently drifted back to 8.1412 in 2024, from 9.334 in 2023. They are targeting over 10,000 grade 2025 students.
The school has remained the main contributor to the region and beyond, producing prominent businessmen, as well as human capital and political and civil servants at both levels of government.
Dr. Kosgei showered praise on the school stakeholders, particularly teachers, parents, and alumnae, for their concerted effort to transform the school academically and improve its physical infrastructure.
Dr. Yator appealed to the parents to supplement the government’s efforts by paying school fees on time, thereby allowing academic programs to progress.
By Ken Langat
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