Nyanza reclaims former glory in examination

By EVELYN KWAMBOKA

Nyanza region is back to reclaim its position in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education producing one of the top students nationally.

The region that has lagged behind in the recent years, saw Kisumu and Nyamira counties uplift the area’s performance by scooping some of the best positions nationwide.

Kisumu produced the best student nationwide, Otieno Akoth Daphne.

Nyamira’s Borabu District emerged among the top five in the country.

Borabu and Kisumu Municipality had a mean mark of 280, Muhoroni 269, Ugenya 267 and Siaya 266.

With the introduction of Free Primary Education system, most of the public schools in the region recorded a huge improvement.

St Andrews Kaggwa Boys in Borabu and MPIS public schools were among the top five best schools in the country. Kisii County’s Nyonsia DOK Primary School improved its mean score from last year’s 170 to 260.

The number of girls who sat for the examination increased in most of the counties within Nyanza. Migori County’s percentage of girls increased from 43.10 to 44.50 and Homa Bay went up to 45.20 from 43.83.

In the region, it was only in Kisii where 13 students took the examination while in prison and out of 45 hospitalised nationwide, 12 were from Nyanza.

Special circumstances

The number of physically and mentally challenged candidates in Nyanza increased from 68 to 107.

Others who sat for the examination under special circumstances were 137 with hearing impairment.

With an increase in the number of those involved in examination irregularities this year, Nyanza had a total of 340 out of the 1,576 recorded in the country.

Homa Bay took the lead with 173 pupils. It is in this county that irregularities were noted in the Kiswahili, English and Science papers.