Coast marks slight improvement in KCSE exam

By David Ochami and Stanley Mwahanga

Mombasa, Kenya: Mombasa’s Light Academy emerged the best school in the region with a mean score of 67.594 toppling 2012’s top performer Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan.

Private schools performed better than public ones across the region’s six counties.

The region’s new national schools fared poorly compared to others across the country, for only six rated among the leading top 100.

Mama Ngina Girls of Mombasa, the best national school in the region, was ranked at position 53 in this category with a mean score of 57.306 against Alliance Boys, the top ranking’s 81.783 points.

Significantly, none of Coast’s six counties was rated among the top 30 counties.

Taita Taveta, the best in the region, was ranked 38 out of 47.

On a positive note, however, Taita Taveta and Lamu are some of the few areas in Kenya where no cheating was detected in last year’s KCSE.

Tana River County was the worst performing county for the second year in a row, raising focus on the impoverished and historically war-torn area.

 Celebration

There was celebration at Mombasa’s Aga Khan High School, which produced Abbas Naeem Essajee and Michael Clinton.

Essajee was number 20 nationally with 86.831 points while Clinton was number 74 nationally with 86.687 points.

Nurani Zainab Mahmood of Memon High was ranked 71 nationally with 86.690 points.

The best candidate was Kingóri Tom Wanderi of Alliance High School in Kikuyu, who scored 87.110 points.

Allidina Visram, a former national giant was the best among district schools in the region, standing at 43 in the top 100 in this category with a mean score of 52.836.

The top district school, Thome Boys of Laikipia, had a mean score of 67.610.

No county school from Coast region made it to the top 100 in this category.

Private schools

Light Academy got a mean score of 67.594. The school was also the best performing in the Coast region, which produced seven private schools among the top 100 nationally. It was ranked 17th among private schools nationally.

The other top private schools in the region were Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan (65.880 mean and 23 nationally), Memon High School (64.785 mean and 31 nationally ), Istiqama Academy and Tuition Centre (64.517 mean and 36 nationally), Abu Hureira Academy (63.367 mean and 42 nationally), Aga Khan High School (62.556 mean and 48 nationally).

All these are in Mombasa.

The best private school in Kilifi was Arabuko Forest High School with a mean score of 53.756 points and was ranked 86 among the top 100 private schools.