Coast's traditional giants stay put, more public schools shine

Hairat Salim Omar of Memon Academy celebreates her 2021 KCSE results. She scored an A minus of 74 points.[Omondi Onyango, Standard]

Coast’s traditional giants Sheikh Khalifa and Light Academy posted a stellar performance in the 2021 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education results released yesterday.

The top student in the region, however, is Said Rajab Said who scored an A plain of 84 points from Kenyatta High School Mwatate in Taita Taveta County.

Last year, the top student from Kenyatta High School Mwatate scored A minus. This year, the top girl is Sedra Fuad Sultan from Sheikh Khalifa with 83 points. 

Sheikh Khalifa has 10 A plains and 30 A minus, according to the result compiled by the time of going to press. Kenyatta High Mwatate has five A plains and Light Academy Nyali had one plain A and nine A minuses.

Sheikh Khalifa and Light Academy in Nyali posted a mean score of 9.1 and 8.7, respectively.

Public schools like Kenyatta High School Mwatate, Mwatate in Taita Taveta, Mama Ngina and Shimo La Tewa in Mombasa, and Kwale Boys in Kwale appear to have also woken from slumber.

Kenyatta High School Mwatate posted five A plains. In the 2020 KCSE, the top student had an A minuses. For the first time in twelve years, Mama Ngina Girls also had a candidate with A plain.

“So far, we have five plain A’s but we are still receiving more results,” said Mr Jones Mwanyumba, a director at Kenyatta High School Mwatate.

He said the best candidate Said Rajab Said had A plain of 84 points. Last year, the top student from Kenyatta High School Mwatate scored an A minus.

Others are Gabriel Wanyoro, William Luchika and Munyau Mutinda who had an A of 82 points while Kiziwania Mwashigad Joshua had 81 points. 

“Last year we had 19 A minus. This year, we had 229 candidates and so far we are happy with results we have received,” said Mwanyumba last evening.

In Mombasa, Mama Ngina Girls for the first time in 12 years posted one A plain. It also tripled the number of candidates with A minuses. Last year, the school’s best candidate had an A minus., “So far we have one A plain. The number of A minus has tripled from six to 19 from six we got last year,” said the school’s principal Mrs Mwanahamisi Omar.

The top student at Mama Ngina was Naimu Bumu who scored an A with 81 points. Another public school, Kwale Boys had five candidates with A minuses by the time of going to press.

In Kwale Boys, Alijah Musembi scored a mean grade of A- of 76 points and Kuno Boba Wario came second with an A minus of 75 points. Zaid Juma Madzumba and Gogo Kitti Favour also scored A minuses.

Sheikh Khalifa had 238 candidates with last scoring a mean of C minus. Light Academy had 80 students with the last also posting a C minus.

Speaking on behalf of Sheikh Khalia, Sheikh Rishad Rajab, who is the deputy principal, attributed their success to support from the board of management and dedication of the staff and students.

In Light Academy, principal Mehmet Ali Seker said the school performed well despite the Covid-19 disruption.

“We have been maintaining high standards. Every year we do our best. This year we had many candidates which lowered our mean score but our candidates performed to our expectation,” Mr Seker.

Shimo La Tewa Boys in Mombasa, another national high school, posted four A minuses.