Parents, teachers and pupils of St. Mary’s Girls Boarding Primary School in Lugari Sub County broke into songs and dance as they celebrated the school’s performance in this year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams. The school managed to scoop position one among the public schools in Lugari Sub County.
According to the school headteacher Mrs. Esther Matte, the school posted a positive deviation of 15.26 after managing a mean score of 318.26 in KCPE exams compared to the 303.00 registered the previous year. Expressing her satisfaction with the results Mrs. Matte commended the cordial relationship the school enjoyed with the community.
She said hardwork, commitment and cooperation between parents and the school management played a crucial role in the success of the school revealing that out of 31 candidates who sat the exam at the school, 19 scored 300 marks and above with only one candidate scoring below 250 marks. “We prepared our candidates well and we expected the best from them. As a school, we had set a target mean of 316 marks but through God’s
grace we surpassed it,” said Mrs. Matte.
She said the school had its top achiever Cynthia Musimbi scoring 409 marks in this year’s KCPE exams followed by Yvonne Khatali who managed 404 marks. In an interview with West Media at the school amidst the celebration, the top candidate Cynthia Musimbi said her success was as a result of hard work, trust in God and obedience.
“I feel happy and courageous. I am starting my journey to adulthood,” she said, “I believed in God and worked hard to achieve this victory and anybody can achieve when he or she works hard and believes in God.” Musimbi aspires to be a gynaecologist.
However, she fears that she might not be able to join secondary school due to the poverty that has beset her family. The girl who has been under the care of a relative has lost hope of pursuing her career dream as her parents can’t afford to raise secondary school fees as well as cater for her other siblings.
Her guardian Mrs. Debora Kadurenge said she took the girl after her parents were unable to take her to school and she has been struggling to see her through. “Her mother used to sell fries in Nairobi but her Kiosk was demolished by the County government several years ago, and she was left without a source of income,” explained Mrs. Kadurenge.
The guardian is now appealing to well-wishers to assist the girl to realize her dream of joining a secondary school and even university and help her family get out of poverty. She said that faced with the burden of ensuring that her children also fulfill their education targets, she may not afford to take Musimbi through secondary education.