Tuesday 10 June 2008

KENYA: Church Schools Scoop Top Positions in National Secondary Exams NAIROBI,


February 29, 2008 (CISA) -Church-founded secondary schools shone again in national examinations, taking six of the top ten positions in the 2007 results released Thursday.The top perch was taken by Catholic-founded Mangu High School, whose alumni include President Mwai Kibaki, the late Cardinal Maurice Otunga, Archbishops emeritus Raphael Ndingi of Nairobi and John Njenga of Mombasa and Bishop Anthony Muheria of Embu. The boys’ school is based in Thika District, north of the Kenyan capital.Nairobi’s Precious Blood Riruta girls’ school scooped position three followed by Loreto High School Limuru and Limuru Girls.Strathmore School, run by the Opus Dei, took position seven, followed at number eight by the Protestant-sponsored Alliance Boys High School.Morris Muchiri was the best student overall. Boys outshone girls, taking 84 out of the top 100 positions. The best female candidate, Abdulrazak Hanif, took position 17.Education Minister Prof Sam Ongeri who released the results said the number of candidates had grown from 243,435 in 2006 to 276,239 in 2007. Girls numbered 126,112 and boys 150,127.Candidates who obtained the minimum requirement for university admission, a C+, grew from 26 to 30 per cent, which is, 82, 871. There was an increase in the number of university qualifiers. Prof Ongeri said 82,134 candidates out of the total of 276,239 scored the minimum university entry grade C+. But Kenyan public and private universities admit about 30,000 new students a year.Performance improved in physics, mathematics, biology, chemistry, geography, history and government, CR, IRE, agriculture, music, French and business studies out of the 22 subjects offered in the exams. However there was a drop in Kiswahili, Home science, art and design, aviation technology and German.

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