Tough questions over shocking KCSE results at Nyanza school

Vostine Ratemo

With the KCSE results out, education stakeholders and the residents of Dago Thim village in Kisumu West Sub-county have raised concerns over the direction Dago Thim Mixed Secondary School should take.

This is because of the astonishing results posted by the class of 2022. Out of the 51 learners who sat the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations, not a single one of them qualified for university.

The school managed to get a mean score of 3.00, with the first student scoring a mean grade of C plain. Two of them got grade E, and the only ones thus far.

This is the first time in a decade that the school has not been able to take students to university. It is made grimmer by the announcement by education Cabinet Secretary (CS) that most schools, especially upcountry ones, had at least some C+ grades.

There have been consistent poor results from the school as also in 2021, it managed a dismal mean of 2.85, the lowest ever in the history of the school.

However, in 2014, the school registered the highest ever mean score of 5.125 when Linet Omollo was principal.

Dago Thim is a school with a vast history. First, it was incepted by the celebrated late Dr. Robert Ouko, who was a powerful minister in the late president Daniel Moi’s regime. It was originally a vocational training college before being vandalized leading to its closure in the late 90s.

It was not until the year 2,000 that Dago Thim Secondary School was born. It sits on a 2-acre piece of land and sponsored by the ACK church.

Located along the border of Kisumu and Vihiga counties, it has moulded a great deal of influential personalities such as Dr. Edwin Obungu who at the moment is an assistant administrator at Kenyatta University, among others.

The contrast is even made starker by one George Ogalo, who in 2014 scored an A-.

When Hobson Onchuru took over as principal in 2019, there was discontent as he is the first non-local to head the institution.

Joyce Muyesu, a resident, regrets the low grades lately recorded, hinting that the community has severally shown hostility towards the principal, especially during meetings to discuss performance in national examinations. It is often done in the presence of students.

“Parents speak negatively about him, mostly in vernacular. Some opt to take their students to neighbouring schools like Dago Kokore , Bar Union and even Gamalenga Secondary school in Vihiga County,” she laments.

Yet while addressing teachers, Oddah Okumu, the school’s Director of Studies (DoS), said they were doing all they could to return the school to peak performance.

“I am appealing to the area chief, sub-chief and the council of elders to close all the Chang’aa dens surrounding the school as it has brought a bad influence among our students,” she said.

Brighton Olweny, a Form One student, said the main challenge that the students face is water stagnation during rainy seasons.

“Even to access the restrooms during the rainy season is a big problem and the frog inhabitants limit our concentration in class,” he said.

The school is built on a swampy area, hence the name ‘Dago’.

He says absenteeism is largely brought about common ailments like malaria, cholera and bilharzia, which are extremely rampant during these wet seasons and are associated with wet environments.

Nonetheless, there have been a number of interventions by the school administration to ensure that there are good results in the coming examinations, among them being the introduction of evening devotions on Fridays after classes, where invited guests encourage the students.

Despite the tensions, the principal has tried to convince the neighbouring primary schools and parents to hand them their children to bridge the dwindling population.

On a brighter note, the school has bought a piece of land to provide space for construction of more classes to add to the existing five and two laboratories.