Rift and Central provinces produce KCPE champions

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By Sam Otieno and Dorothy Otieno
Rift Valley and Central provinces produced the two boys who tied at the top position in this year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education.
Central Province, whose fortunes in the annual exams continue to improve, also gave Kenya the top district on the national rating. The province also had the highest number of pupils in the top 100-category, taking 37 of the prime slots.
Across the country, private schools dominated the top positions in the KCPE results released yesterday. For the first time, the difference in marks between the top ten candidates was five marks. Last year, the difference between the top mark and the second was three.

Collins Kiprop Metto from Moi School Kabarak was one of the two named No.1 nationally.Scored 434 marks

Ngatia Linus Muchiri from Trinity School in Central Province was one of the two named No.1 nationally.Scored 434 marks

Because of the tie in No.1 Ochieng Rabin from Nyanza was named No.3 nationally, but here too there was a tie. Scored 433 marks

Matindi Karungari Eleanor named best girl in Kenya and one of the two who tied at No.3 nationally. Scored 433 marks

Linus Muchiri Ngatia from little-known Murang’a South’s Trinity School tied with Nakuru’s Moi Kabarak Primary School’s Collins Metto Kiprop at 434 marks of the possible 500. Their score was four marks less than that posted by last year’s champion. Njoroge Kamenju from Lily Academy in Central Province was the top candidate last year with 438 marks.
Honours list
Out of the ten top slots nationally, boys took seven and girls three. Interestingly there was no number two in the honours list because of the tie in number one.
There was also a tie in the third position between the top girl nationally, Eleanor Matindi Karungari and Rabin Ochieng’ of St Peters Cape View in Nyanza. Both scored 433 marks.
"I really can’t believe that I am top in the country. When my name was read out on in the TV by the Minister for Education, I thought I was dreaming," said Ngatia.
His dream in life is to be a pilot or aviation engineer because his favourite subjects are mathematics and sciences.
Ngatia’s father David Mathea and his mother Leah Ngatia who live in Donholm Estate, Nairobi, said they were planning to hold a party for their son in honour of his good performance. "Our son loves traveling and we are going to sit down and decide where we will go for holiday and have a good time as a family," said Ngatia’s father.
"I am very happy. I thank God because I prayed daily and I pushed very hard," said Kiprop.
Kiprop and his parents said they were surprised by the excellent performance.
Kiprop, or Robi as he is popularly known at home, said he cried when the Minister read out his name on national TV. After interview with journalists, his parents and neighbours served him with traditional Kalenjin fermented milk, mursik, to cap his heroic performance.
"My son has been obedient, hardworking and prayerful," said Pauline Metto, Kiprop’s mother who works with the Postal Corporation of Kenya. The boy intends to pursue aeronautical engineering.
The top girl, Eleanor Matindi Karungari from Bethlehem school in Central Province scored 433 marks and was ranked third nationally.
Eleanor, who was optimistic she would join Alliance Girls High school, said she intends to pursue medicine. She attributed her success to her parents, teachers and classmates.
Ecstatic candidates
"It is too exciting to be true. I knew I was going to do well, but being the top girl and third nationally is too good to be true. I thank my parents and teachers who always encouraged me," said an ecstatic Eleanor.
Three candidates tied at the fourth position — Patrick Mumo Mutuku from Kathonzweni AIC in Eastern Province, Matumo Winnie Gaturia of Nairobi’s Marion Preparatory School, and Oprah Nyang’ate Omeka from Nyanza. On the provincial standings, Gaturia topped Nairobi.
Of the top 100 nationally, 69 went to boys while girls took 56 slots. The province with the second highest candidates in the top 100 nationally was Rift Valley, with 20, followed by Nairobi with 17 and Eastern 16.
Showing a slight improvement over the last two years was Nyanza, which had 14 candidates, Western 16, and Coast five. In keeping with recent trends, North Eastern was not represented in the top 100 nationally.
Releasing the results at Mitihani House, Education Minister, Sam Ongeri, said although there was a slight decline in the top marks, performance improved in seven of nine subjects examined. But he noted performance in Kiswahili was poor.
The minister said girls performed better than boys in English Objective (Grammar), English Composition, Kiswahili Objective and Kiswahili Composition.