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National Schools cheat parents, students

Written by Annette Keino

Thursday, 01 March 2007

When she scored the first place in Coast Province in her KCPE in 2002, Khadija Abdullah was elated to receive a letter of acceptance to Alliance Girls' High School.

For her like for many students her age, entrance to a national school, and especially to the oldest most prestigious ones like the Alliance Schools, Mangu, Starehe is a life's dream. This dream motivates a the ruthless competition to come out on top not just in one's sown local chool, but also in the municipality and province. It is especially difficult for students from municipalities from which a school like Alliance may admit just one girl. So Khadija set off for Alliance where Charity Ngilu, Margaret Kenyatta, Effie Owuor had started their steps to success.

Khadija would four years later rue this choice, as all four of her primary school classmates who had qualified to attend the far less prestigious Mama Ngina Secondary School beat her at the KCSE university entrance exam in 2006, placing themselves at a great advantage when the university intakes are announced later in the year. Khadija was hardly a lazy girl, she finished in the top 40 out of Alliance's class of 2006, which is no mean feat considering that most of them, like her, had been the best in their divisions and districts.

This is the other, also harmful effect of our national obsession with education and the accrual of paper qualifications. The school ranking system based on exams results and the taxonomy that runs parallel to it, may send thousands of talented students like Khadija into lives of failure and rejection.

1. Starehe Boys Centre (Nairobi)
2. Strathmore School (Nairobi),
3. Alliance Boys High School (Central),
4. Kianda School (Nairobi)
5. Loreto Girls (Central)
6. Precious Blood Girls (Nairobi)
7. Mangu High School (Central)
8. Friends School Kamusinga (Western)
9. Mama Ngina Girls Secondary School (Coast)
10. Sunshine Secondary School (Nairobi)
11. Moi Girls High School (Rift Valley)
12. Njiiri School (Central)
13. Maseno School (Nyanza)
14. Bishop Gatimu Ngandu Girls (Central)
15. Pangani Girls School (Nairobi)
16. Mary Mother of Grace Boys
17. Kenya High School (Nairobi)
18. Alliance Girls High School (Central)
19. Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed (Coast)
20. The Aga Khan High School (Coast)

There are hardly ever any surprises when the rankings are announced. Starehe, Alliance, Strathmore, Kianda, Precious Blood, the usual suspects lead the pack. What this picture obscures though, is the fact that the national schools, which have the first pick of the successful candidates from the secondary school entrance exams, are often doing much worse than some provincial or district schools. A school like Kenya High School (17^th) or Alliance Girls (18th) for example has, broadly speaking, taken students who performed better at KCPE and somehow contrived in the space of four years to get them behind those they had beaten at KCPE and who had to settle for a place at Pangani (15^th), Bishop Gatimu (14^th) or most startingly Mama Ngina Girls where Khadija's friends met their success. Even then, Alliance Girls are doing far better than others though, you notice that Nairobi School and Lenana School are not in the top twenty, and neither are Limuru High School or either of the Moi Forces Academies.

This calamity represents a number of very dangerous realities. The first is that the resource advantage enjoyed by national schools, or even by the larger provincial schools (Maranda, St. Patrick's Iten, St Mary's Yala, and Precious Blood Kilungu are other cheats) is wasted away as they fail to return the investment at national exams. This resource advantage is not just confined to who gets first choice of the KCPE graduates, but extends to the ability to charge higher fees (when I was at Alliance parents were asked for in excess of Ksh. 50,000 while ministry guidelines for national schools were at Kshs. 27,000), to employ better staff who may include exam setters or text-book writers (due to historical incentives like housing benefits, proximity to Nairobi etc.) and also to physical facilities (Alliance High School (boys) has more than five libraries). Add to this the fact that through their successful alumni these old schools are able to call on substantial financial resources even outside their budgets, for example through fund-raisers.

So then we are faced with the dire fact that a student who was top in Coast province in KCPE and who elected to go to Alliance say, instead of Mama Ngina Girls Secondary School, is wasted by the system ending up perhaps missing out on her preferred degree choice and having to settle for some other one she is not too interested in.

I propose that the system needs a radical shake-up. The traditional national schools must be audited to see why they are under-performing. In addition, their privileges as regards school fees, resource allocation and teacher posting must be reviewed urgently. To all KCPE parents, be wary and judge not a book by its cover; the system is already ruthless, we need not make it even more cruel.

Annette Keino
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Amen.
written by Honey , March 02, 2007

Thank you very much for posting this thought.

I have personally seen this problem persist time and again. My sister was a top student in Nyanza, only to pull a B from Kenya High in 2003. Another topped Coast in 1990, with high hopes of studying medicine, she ended up with anthropology. This infuriated the whole family and extended, to an extend that it has been sworn that Lugulu will be preferred over this 'prestigious school'. My brother opted for Kamusinga instead of Alliance. However, Starehe seems to still hold up.

I myself went through MaryHill school, I was never sure of what I wanted to do, so I can not complain much.

However, thinking back, it is not like this disturbing trend began yesterday. An aunt joined Aliance in the 80's, after coming tops in Western,and ended up a forester. On the other hand, her younger sister, who just got by attended Bunyore, and went on to Law school, setting her own record over there.

What happens to these Kids? or teachers? someone?

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written by Masaa , March 02, 2007

Hey Annette Keino,
well I must first correct you.I was in alliance high school myself between 1995-1998 and I can tell you we did not have 5 libraries.That is a very INCORRECT statement you gave. However,most of what you said was true concerning SOME of the national schools in terms of the GRADES you get at KCSE in comparison to KCPE.

I would say this for me and I believe most of the guys who were at alliance (the guys's school).I never regret and never will regret going there.I learnt so much more than just getting a good grade.They have the whole package. It may seem arrogant or me being to proud of my former school- though anyone has a right to that really- but it is just the truth.

My other option would have been to go to Musingu or Kamusinga and I am grateful it did not come to that.

Oohh and another thing: We really did not have any exam setters nor anyone who wrote a book during the time I was there so CHECK your facts on that again....

As a response to Honey,
what you end up doing later in life as you may know does not necessarily depend on your school grades or the school you went to but more so luck, connections i.e being at the right place at the right time, and individual drive or resourcefulness to name a few so just as you say you know some who went to a national school and ended up not being financially stable, so can I give you a list of people I went to school with who have really struck it big and they are the majority. Success is not 100% guaranteed just because you were at alliance or starehe!!

Hope that was useful

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written by Obamab , March 02, 2007

Being that I went to a National school, I cannot say I understand where you are coming from with this argument. National schools like you said are endowed with resources that other schools might not have. I.e. other public schools. From the list of schools in the top 20, you cannot fail to notice that at least 10 of the schools are private schools with resources that supersede the national schools resources.

Another issue is the number of students sitting in each of the national schools, in our school we had an average of 270 students, unlike the about 80 students in Kianda school. If we were able to average the top 100 performers in the national schools, we would find that they would be performing as well and if not better than their private school colleagues.

Then there is the issue of backdoor entrants into the school. The bottom performers in our school were people of means whose performance would not make a difference in their future and hence did not really matter to them. The prestige of being in the national school is essentially what their parents wanted for them.

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Also at Alliance
written by Anette\'s Brother , March 02, 2007

Someone failed their tie-test.

Nancy Khiwaga definitely had her name at the back of more than one Geography book.
Benedict Syambo

Mr Muchiri of Sellwood part-timed at Kenya Institute of Education, etc were all big-shots in the educational establishment. Let's not try to be overly specific, Alliance, Mang'u, Starehe , etc definitely enjoy far better teaching staff than the smaller schools.

Maybe my sister exaggerated about libraries, maybe she was counting YCS, CU, German, the one in the Faculty Lounge, etc.

With regard to the article, I do not think it addresses the successful schools like Alliance, Starehe or Mang'u, but more the unsuccessful ones like Alliance Girls or Lenana.

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written by Masaa , March 02, 2007

Well Annette's brother,
my bad for overlooking that. My memory is surely fading at a first rate especially when it comes to ppl like Kihwaga.......that being said I surely passed my tie test with flying colours and if my dwindling memory serves me right, I was second in Aggrey house.

Anyway, Obamab has a point which surely affects all national schools especially the backdoor issue and the number of students admitted.

Anette's brother, I also think that classifying Lenana and SURELY Alliance girls as FAILED is a bit of an overkill. They are not top 10 but still have students performing at a very high level.

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written by Changerian , March 02, 2007

Intelligent students are found all over the republic in all sorts of roles from roasting maize cobs to wielding automatic weapons and learning how to do digital examination of patients. The question is whether they had the discipline (or meekness), parental intervention(or busybodying), focus (or characterlessness), school tradition (or rote learning) to turn their potential into academic achievement. I went to Lenana after beating primary school classmates that went to Mangu and Alliance and being beaten by one that went to Nairobi school. We were all of similar intelligence (give or take). After High school the Alliances and Mangus of this world had preponderance. After university is a whole other story.

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national schools
written by Amina , March 02, 2007

National schools in Kenya continue to perpetuate elitism and classism in Kenya. They are not private schools, however,as Annette mentions above they cost more than the ordinary Kenyan afford. As a result they should perform well... .

Now onto something else that we should be addressing--- public education should be equally distributed. There is no reason why some schools should be lacking in facilities, while others like Alliance have 5 libraries!!

Advantages of national schools-- the only one that I see, is their diversity-- in tribal terms since they admit students from all over the country (or do they? ).

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written by Changerian , March 02, 2007

Elitism and Class disparities will always be with us. Should we formalise this by making it meritorious or leaving it to heredity?

One reason some National schools do poorly is that they used to be private Mzungu schools and were turned to public Mwafrika schools without insisting parents pay the full cost to maintain the once impressive facilities.

We cannot have our cake and eat by spending little money and expecting much academic perfomance

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re:
written by Amina , March 02, 2007

Elitism and Class disparities will always be with us. Should we formalize this by making it meritorious or leaving it to heredity?

One reason some National schools do poorly is that they used to be private Mzungu schools and were turned to public Mwafrika schools without insisting parents pay the full cost to maintain the once impressive facilities.

We cannot have our cake and eat by spending little money and expecting much academic performance

Agreed, we will always have classism and elitism, lakini, it is not taking us anywhere. You seem to miss the point of my argument-- there is no reason why national PUBLIC schools should have better facilites than provincials or district ones. It really does not make sense!! If Kenya is to continue developing then children graduating from high schools into colleges should all be at the same academic level.

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written by Purity , March 02, 2007

Maybe the whole thing of elitism and classism was/or is a way to reward the bright students for their hard work. The problem is, most of the bright students are already elite!
If the vibe on free seondary education doing its round comes to pass, we may be seeing poorer performances in esp the provincial and district schools because we will once again have many students with little resources. Education in Kenya in as political as everything else!

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written by Kamale , March 02, 2007

The kids that end up in some of these national schools whilst being 'elitist' are the product of academies which have a reputation for drilling children to pass examinations. These children invariably struggle with secondary education and tend to drag down the national schools.

Perhaps that may explain why Starehe is able to maintain a good record. They only take 10% of their admission from these academies whilst the rest of the positions are taken by poor children from public schools who excelled. Now coupled with a good work ethic at the school, the exam results most of the time are good.

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written by emmo opoti , March 02, 2007

There is an argument that goes like this. To get the very best out of talented people, we need to surround them with even more talent. If we didn't they would wallow in complacent superiority and never work to improve themselves. This is why everywhere in the world there is a pyramid structure to the education system.

What is wrong with Kenya's system is not that there exist some schools that are better than others ( it is extrememly difficult to have such equality esp. given that some schools enjoy a great historical advantage, Maseno started 1909, Alliance 1926 have such a headstart for example).

What we must campaign for is a system of standards that dictates that even the smallest harambee school in far off Moyale is meeting some set Ministry standards so that as far as is possible, a student there can be equipped to catch up at tertiary level or in the job market after graduating from high school.

Kamale,
It is not true what you said about Starehe, it has just as big a fraction of better off students as would Alliance or Mang'u or Maseno. Excepting the particularly corrupt Principal, most schools have an admission policy that is very close to the Starehe model which is actually based on the Alliance model.

Please look for the late Griffins treatise on managing young people and their education. It is called School Mastery and is based on a long career of success. During my time at Alliance there were countless streams of visiting schools coming from all over the country to tap into what makes Alliance tick. Like Masaa says, it is much more than just the academic work.

Finally,may I say that I fully agree with Keino. There was this girl at primary school that always came near the top of the class. She did not make it to Alliance for the reasons made out in the article and went instead to Limuru High School. She ended up getting a B. You see here is the vital difference, if you attend Alliance, even if you have learning disabilities the least I have heard anyone get is a C- and even that is extremely rare. So imagine the anguish a parent would feel for having their child get a B when they had scored 584 at KCPE ( it was out of 700 in the days).

Changerian,
I agree that what you score at school is not all that is important, but Kenya's system for everything is absolutely ruthless. The difference between an A and an A- dictates the whole course of your life, especially if you do not have the money, connections, etc to seek alternative paths.

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re:
written by Kamale , March 02, 2007

Kamale,
It is not true what you said about Starehe, it has just as big a fraction of better off students as would Alliance or Mang'u or Maseno. Excepting the particularly corrupt Principal, most schools have an admission policy that is very close to the Starehe model which is actually based on the Alliance model.

Please look for the late Griffins treatise on managing young people and their education. It is called School Mastery and is based on a long career of success. During my time at Alliance there were countless streams of visiting schools coming from all over the country to tap into what makes Alliance tick. Like Masaa says, it is much more than just the academic work.

Emmo,

When I spoke about Starehe it was because that is where I went to school and like many other old starehians we keep very close contact with the school through mentoring programs. Infact this has intensified since the passing on of Griffin, a more involved mentoring program is under way to ensure that the culture of the school stays for ever. It is with this conviction that I gave the 10% figure which has been for a very long time the number allowed for fee paying boys.

If you talk about school modelling, Griffin never seemed to agree with the Carey Francis model and instead went for the model of Christ's Hospital school in the UK when he decided to change the original youth centre into a school (Ref: Anthem of Bugles by Roger Martin). This was infact the basis of the accusation levelled against him by some English volunteers that he was trying to turn street waifs into Etonians - pole lakini Alliance was never in the picture Emmo!!

But this aside, the reason why Starehe has had a consistent record was as explained by Professor Mugambi the fact that the poor boys make use of the opportunity not to go back to the circumstances that took them there. Any starehian will tell you that this is called running away from the category A syndrome! They have the motivation to learn and the school gives them the atmosphere to achieve this!

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written by Amir Ibrahim , March 02, 2007

I was not schooled in the Kenyan public system but for all it is worth, I think the main point in the article was Return on Investment.

Surely, if the best schools are attracting the most talented teachers, are permitted to charge the highest fees, get the most out of a historical advantage, etc then we must insist that they produce top students.

Matters little what model is used, methinks, far more important that they are well run. Friends Kamusinga was not here so consistently before, neither was Bishop Gatimu Girls' Ng'andu or Sheikh Khalifa or Aga Khan.

Question,some one posited that most of these schools are private but are they? Certainly many of them were started by church groups or by Griffin etc, but they are public are they not?

I think only Sunshine, Kianda, Strathmore and the Aga Khan High School can call themselves private. Actually I am not even sure about the Aga Khan one.

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written by emmo opoti , March 02, 2007

Kamale,
Alliance was not built purely on the Carey Francis model. I admit it was a little cheeky of me to intimate that it was. However School Mastery does read very much like the system at Allianc, in fact in many ways the Alliance system is ( should I say was ) superior. We finally got a stranger for school principal and it went down the tubes.

Old gripe, it was better when I was there, etc.

Anyhow, the systems at Alliance were the product of several principals Maneno, Wagitu,etc and maybe we did borrow a little from Starehe and they from us.Interestingly, I seem to see Alliance or Starehe or the ideas there as more like Napoleon than anything Anglo-Saxon.
I believe ardently even in the principle of Richelieu's that 'each one ought to have within his reach the education for which he is best fitted', so the system of taking the very best out of all the schools in the country and giving them the very best the nation has to offer is entirely laudable, and Keino's article asks that we fix that system so that we are not consigning to the rubbish heap talents that would have benefitted the common good.

There's so much money that the country could save by not teaching chemistry or physics for example to every last high school student. I mean this is very expensive and unnecessary!!

Amir,
I agree, that really is all this is about. Return on Investment. Public Schools are after all run on the fees of paying parents ( not for anyone's profit) and from taxes used to pay for teachers.

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rabble rouser
written by Kamau , March 02, 2007

I attended one of those failing national schools in the late 80’s and even then there was a sizeable number of disruptive, politically connected, academically challenged backdoor students that brought the average down. However, the smart and hardworking kids still managed to do well.

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The Art of School Flossing
written by aeichener , March 02, 2007

I feel sorrowed that I cannot quite compete with the exquite flossing displayed by Masaa, Emmo et alii. My school did not date back to 1926 (as some of the Eminent African Gentlemen in this thread can proudly claim) or even to 1909 (shivers of awe creeping down my spine...).

No, we are so unimportant that no precise date of foundation is even known (the second foundation was 1568, but first foundation - and that is what counts, right? - must have been some time fairly soon post 1135, but nobody really knows for sure). Why, we don't even have school ties, *sniff*, and neither was there any bullying. What a peon must I be - Vae mihi misero !

smilies/sad.gif

:cry:

Alexander

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written by Masaa , March 02, 2007

Hey Aichener,
just to put things straight and hope not to sway from the topic, its not a matter of flossing but talking from the experience one has in relation to the original article.
I think you are the one who has a self inflicted idea that we are flossing.
I certainly did not see that from anyone on this post.
Lets focus on the main issue please

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written by emmo opoti , March 02, 2007

Easy Masaa,easy!!
You must be a Dorm 6 guy, were you in SDS. Alexander is only speaking in jest. Ach, lass' gut sein

I hear Alliance girls are now in with a list of excuses but the other schools are pinning their success on leadership and a change in strategy. I think to a degree most kids have the same range of abilities, give or take minor differences.

The reason why some of them do well or not at KCSE, is down to school systems.

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re: Dorm 6 or SDS ?
written by aeichener , March 03, 2007

Easy Masaa,easy!!
You must be a Dorm 6 guy, were you in SDS. Alexander is only speaking in jest.

In the SDS? Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund of ancient 1968's memory? Na, fuer sooo alt haette ich Masaa aber nicht gehalten. smilies/cheesy.gif

Alexander

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written by wangari-talbot , February 28, 2008

I am not sure what Amir Ibrahim means by good management of schools and some schools not being consistently in the top bracket. I went to Bishop Gatimu which was one of the school you named, and the only year that it tanked ( was listed 21 nation wide) was in 1999 when i graduated. other than that it has always been a good school... and has even been in 1st place at some historical point. If you take in high achieving students like most of the schools in the top 20's then your chances of being in the top bracket is as good as written on stone and thats why they continue to do well management not withstanding.

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my opinion
written by anonymous , February 28, 2008

OK I was in Maseno the school est 1906. which didn't look much different in 89 when I enrolled - I think national schools are overrated; it's an idea whose time has passed, from when education was a finite resource.

I think schools should be run professionally by professionals under the oversight of local elected school boards. in terms of education we should move away from the idea of just building schools and instead build school systems.

our system lacks a system of direct accountability. if students at Alliance fail or Kakamega high fail who is accountable. The minister of education is not directly accountable. The headmaster does not answer to a local board - instead he is answerable to an appointed official far away.

We need local control and locally accountable education systems. There are many faults with the American education system but that is one thing they get right. Local accountability and control.

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Scrap the 8-4-4 system
written by Wuod Aketch , March 01, 2008

Now that we have talked about those schools, time has come to ask the question as to why this country is not producing highly qualified people from the various universities?
The 8-4-4 system should be scrapped. Universities should also become elitist to produce high caliber professionals.

Reforming the education system in Kenya should be high on Raila's list of priorities. If we had difficulties recently in politics, it is also partly as a result of a faulted education system.

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Progressive productivity!
written by Quirosh , October 12, 2008

Whether you went to a national, provincial,private,public or under- a- tree school is immaterial what's important is that you went there and got what you got-an education!aptly to prepare you 4tha real world....to face it and deal with diverse human challenges. SocialClasses are as old as the human-race(no sour grapes) and this is just the sad fact. However in real life success analysis, what is even more important is how well and to what extent you have been able to transform your brain power to work for you in tangible and meaningful ways, for your prosperity and that of your community.
Otherwise in our generation that is battling unemployment,political correctness and a myriad other harsh realities the real question is 'what have you done with your A's and the prestigious halls of academia you've walked through-and what has it done for you?? If you can answer this question consider yourself home and dry.  Its a true maxim; Energy+Talent= KING.
Energy+NoTalent=PRINCE. Talent+NoEnergy=PAUPER.

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Lets not miss the real issue.
written by Kimemia , October 13, 2008

true as pointed out there are National schools which out there being consistently outgunned by supposedly weaker provincials and in that regard that Bishop Gatimu's B+ average was about 0.3 index points better than Alliance Girls, is hardly the most stark examples of a name. Think of the debacle that is/was Garba Tula Secondary, or even the disappearance from the top end of High schools with such a big history like Kagumo Boys, Njiriis and so forth.
One cannot avoid noticing these 'overperforming' provincial and occasionally district secondary schools doing much better than some of the national schools but focusing the debate entirely on this issue probably ignores the fact that all these top performing schools irrespective of their place in the pecking order share the same commitment to teaching standards. Operate with similar philosophies to ensure that their students are driven enough to overcome the 8-4-4 burden or at least sharp enough to engineer good grades and most importantly, all are pretty much the best staffed and resourced schools in their regions (which often by default means the entire country)

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