Philip Akoth and Oliver Murunga emerge Busia County's top KCPE candidates

Teso,

Saturday November 25, 2023

KNA by Absalom Namwalo

Philip Akoth from St. Augustin Butunyi in Butula Sub County and Oliver Murunga Omudala from Adanya Primary School in Teso North Sub County emerged as top candidates in Busia County in the just released KCPE exams with 419 marks.

  After many years of absence from the top list of best performers, public schools bounced back in a historic last KCPE exam to produce top candidates in various sub-counties across the country.

At Adanya Primary School in Angurai East Ward, it was joy and celebration as teachers, parents, and students carried Oliver Murunga shoulder high for putting the school top at the county level.

 Murunga told KNA he aspired to join his dream school Alliance Boys High School attributing his success to discipline, handwork, and putting God ahead of everything.

 “It is all about dedication and teamwork with our teachers that we were able to post such marks. I would like to join Alliance Boys and pursue my dream career, doctor,” said Murunga.

 In the Butula sub-county, St. Agustin Boys took to the streets to celebrate a remarkable result this year. Philip Akoth is the top student with 419 marks and 6 others managed to score above 400 marks out of the possible 500.

Malaba Township primary was not left behind after 8 students scored over 400 marks with Roy Riziki emerging top candidate with 411 marks. Belinda Lizzy Tata who was second best in the school managed to gunner 410 followed by Zeitun Hussein with a 407 mark.

Malaba Township, which performed extremely well, recorded the highest number of candidates in the sub-county, and produced commendable results with over 100 students scoring above 300 marks leaving only 20 candidates who scored below this mark.

Roy Riziki wants to join Friends School Kamusinga, while Belinda Tata's dream school is Kenya High.

“I would like to thank our teachers and parents for their commitment and ensuring we were in school on time to cover the syllabus thus having time to revise for exams,” noted Riziki.

 Teachers who spoke to KNA led by Esther Alungat and David Mutuwari want the selection process to be fair and give all students an opportunity to join their dream schools.

  “As teachers, we have done our best. Now we urge the form one selection panel to be considerate and give all Kenyan children an opportunity to join their dream schools,” said Mrs. Alungat, Malaba Township 2023 class 8 class teacher.

Her sentiments were echoed by Millicent Kaunya who challenged the government not to discriminate against private schools as all students deserved better opportunities based on their ability.

 "All candidates are Kenyan children and it is our belief that Form One selection will be fair to all. Private schools are keenly watching," noted Millicent.

She said the government, and indeed all stakeholders should support private schools in the spirit of public-private partnership, saying this would also help in decongesting public secondary schools.

 "Private secondary schools struggle to get Form One slots in public secondary schools because their head teachers are excluded from the selection process," Millicent added.

Other schools that posted positive results included Magnet Academy in Nambale sub-county with 7 students scoring above 400 marks with a school mean score of 377.6, Isegeretoto Academy with two students above 400 and a mean score of 341.7, Malaba Junior Academy with mean of 349 and Ebenezer Academy.

The much-awaited form-one selection will commence on Monday, November 27.

Courtesy; KNA