Bungoma School left out in ranking

By Robert Wanyonyi

A school in Bungoma County in Western Kenya has raised concern over its ranking in the KCPE examination results announced on Wednesday.

The administration of Marell Academy in Bungoma town questioned why it was not ranked at all yet it emerged with the highest mean score in the country.

The school produced its results, a copy of which was made availed to The Standardshowing a mean score of 411.81.

This is the highest mean score in the country according to the results released on Wednesday by Education minister Sam Ongeri. The results listed Gilgil Hills Academy as the top-ranked school with a mean score of 410.

The director at Marell Academy Ellis Ominde questioned the criteria used to rank schools complaining that his school was deliberately left out of the rankings by the Education ministry.

"We want to be told how they arrived at the top school because authenticated results in our possession show very well that Marell is the top school yet we are not appearing anywhere. Can the ministry clarify this anomaly?" asked Ominde.

The results show that Marell registered a class of 31 candidates out of which 27 obtained over 400 marks. The top student Lawrence Peter had 431 marks out of a possible 500 while the last student Baldwin Chitala scored 391 marks.

On Thursday, concerned parents and teachers converged at the school to discuss the anomaly, accusing officials at the Education ministry of working to sabotage their school.

"We want the ministry to come out and explain why they locked out our school with such a high mean score. This is sabotage and we are ready to even take legal action!’’ lamented an angry parent.

They vowed to reject the results until the matter is fully addressed and resolved.