Opinion: Students who scored As from village schools deserve more flowers

When KCSE exams were released on Monday, out of 1,216 students who attained the coveted A grade in 2023, the National schools produced the highest number of candidates with an overall mean grade of A (889: 2.486%).

This was followed by Extra County (172:0.096%), Private Schools (143;0.221%), County Schools (5;0.004%) and Sub-County Schools (7;0.001%). 

Ironically, most of the A students paraded by our beloved Kenyan media were from National, Extra County, and Private schools.

Historically, our media has been obsessed with those other 889 students from national schools, leaving the real academic giants who can tell the story of most candidates’ predicaments.

For me, a student attaining a mean score of 400+ marks in KCPE and replicating another A in KSCE in a national school is a good achievement, but the media should not waste much energy on it.

In this case, we should look for the 7 As from Sub-County schools in the villages.

Is this journalistic laziness or just prejudice? I would like to see our top media journalist look for these students from Sub-County schools to motivate most candidates through their stories.

The reality is that today, you will find many parents looking for slots in National and Extra County schools because they know that their students will likely perform better due to the abundance of infrastructure and resources for learning.

For instance, four years ago, a relative of mine had to “talk well” with the principal of one of the leading national schools despite scoring 300 in KCPE in an expensive academy school. Yesterday, the relative scored 80A-. What does this tell you?

Attending these national schools guarantees your child a better performance; no wonder parents fight for slots yearly. Don’t mistake me; I am not against national schools; it is just that the media has given too much to them.

Let’s focus now on Sub-County schools by spreading good news, not the apparent horror stories.

We all know that over 70% of all students were from Sub-County schools, and the students go through a lot to make such achievements. What does it take to learn in a sub-county school?

Kenyan sub-county schools grapple with multifaceted challenges, predominantly rooted in resource limitations, infrastructure constraints, and socio-economic disparities.

Scarce resources, including essential educational materials like textbooks and teaching aids, coupled with inadequate infrastructure, compromise the quality of education.

Sub-county schools need more qualified teachers, resulting in larger class sizes and hindering personalized attention for students.

Insufficient access to modern technology, such as computers and the internet, hampers students' exposure to digital learning resources essential for contemporary skills.

In many cases, Socioeconomic factors, including economic disadvantages, long commutes, and language barriers, compound students' difficulties.

More preparation for national exams is needed to ensure future educational and career prospects.

Furthermore, resource constraints restrict extracurricular activities, impeding holistic student development, meaning that when a student performs well in these schools, the media should ensure the world knows about them and not tell us the same boring and non-inspirational stories.

It is high time we celebrate these top performers from Sub- County schools through the media.

We should look for these seven giants to share their stories that can motivate most of this year’s candidates instead of celebrating top national school performers who have all that the sub-county schools lack to be the best in the country.

Dr. Odhiambo, Ph.D. teaches Actuarial Science at Meru University of Science and Technology (MUST) and a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Umeå University, Sweden.

Email: joabodhiambo2030@gmail.com

X: @Dr_Jodhiambo