Schools in bandit prone areas defy odds to post good KCSE results

Letio Elijah is carried shoulder high by residents in Tabare village, in Elgeiyo-Marakwet County, after he scored A in 2024 KCSE. He was a student at Lodwar Boys High School in Turkana County. [Kevin Tunoi, Standard]

Gun battles in the troubled Kerio Valley, at times near schools, cause major scare to students and teachers.

However, students in schools in the volatile region defied the odds including insecurity, to score university entry grades in the 2024 KCSE.

For instance, Tot Mixed Day Secondary School produced 67 candidates who qualified for university despite being located in one of the banditry hotspots in Marakwet East.

The school recorded a mean score of 6.76, with students scoring B plain, 21 B- (minus) and 45 C+.

In the recent past bandits staged several attacks at the school and made away with goats.

Ismael Chelanga Secondary School named after a former Rift Valley Commissioner the late Ismael Chelanga had 30 students attain university entry marks. The school recorded a mean score of 6.5, with seven candidates attaining B- (minus) and 23 C+.

At Kolowa High School in the neighboring Baringo county, 94.3 per cent of its candidates attained university entry marks.

The school produced 10 B, 56 B-, 50 C+ and seven C.

In Turkana, however, results of Katilu Boys High School were withheld. This was one of the top-performing institutions in the county in the 2023 KCSE

Anxious candidates, parents and teachers were still waiting for the Kenya National Examination Council to conclude investigations.

"We are hopeful that the investigations will vindicate the school and clear any doubts about the integrity of our results," said one parent.

Knec assured affected schools that investigations would be concluded within 30 days.

At Lodwar Boys High School 107 candidates qualified for university admission.