CGA National Exam Results

 

The results for the 8th grade National Exams were released this week. The 27 students who took the exam in December at CGA did very well! This year’s class was filled with girls. There were only 9 boys in the class and 18 girls. That is very unique in itself because in the this region the number of boys in schools and taking national exams is always more than the number of girls. Around Lake Victoria in Kenya few girls are able to go very far in their education. Many times they are not able to maintain consistent attendance in school because of household duties, taking care of young children in the home and other factors. When they reach adolescence many of them drop out of school because of unwanted pregnancies and early marriages. Families around Mbita also don’t take much of an interest in educating their daughters because in this culture once a girl marries, she goes to stay with her husband’s family. The men will remain in their parents home and contribute to their family. Most people feel there is no reason to educate a girl who will end up working for her in-laws rather than a son who will support you. At CGA we try to give equal opportunity for all of our students, no matter the gender, clan, tribe or any other factor. We want all of them to succeed!

This year’s class at CGA improved the overall mean of the school by 12 points over last year’s class. Their overall mean was 306.44. The general pass mark is considered 250 and the “quality” pass mark is 300 so we far exceeded both of those. Four of the five subjects had a mean over 60 (a “quality” pass mark for an individual subject). It was only Kiswahili that was a little below with a 56. The class performed best in English, followed closely by Math and then Science and Social Studies.

The top student in the class was Esther Juma with 386 which we expect to be one of the top scores for girls in the district. She was followed by Wendy Melanie with 372 and Dancan Elisha with 371. Four others scored in the 360’s including Lucy Cynthia, Beatrice Atieno, James Okach and Nancy Alice.

Next week the students will be waiting for various secondary schools to select them and send them an invitation letter. Then in late February or early March they will be beginning the next stage of their education as they enter high schools. Most of them will be attending boarding schools and will have major adjustments to make adapting to a new way of life.