As Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha announced the placement of 2021 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) candidates, two little-known schools were recognised for having the highest admission.
In his speech, Magoha noted that St. Albert Ulanda Girls in Migori County and Sironga Girls in Nyamira county will admit over 800 students each in May.
The CS praised the two institutions for investing in infrastructure to enable them to accommodate many students given President Uhuru Kenyatta's policy on 100 per cent transition from primary school to secondary school.
"I am proud to state that there are schools that have gone out of their way to expand capacity in support of 100% transition. In this regard, I would wish to recognize St. Albert Ulanda Girls and Sironga Girls who 29 are going to admit 864 and 816 candidates respectively," Magoha stated.
Unknown to many, the two are among the few schools that were founded post Kenya's independence in 1963.
Sironga Girls
Sironga was founded in 1968 as a mixed school with only 62 students following a fundraising event graced by the Late President Daniel Arap Moi.
The school later transitioned into a girls boarding school and was made a national school in 2013 after the government increased the number of national institutions in the country.
The institution has been famed for its high-rise storey buildings with special facilities such as a science complex. Most of their buildings are painted maroon, hence the nickname 'maroon palace'.
The two schools have posted remarkable performance in recent years in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams. During the 2020 KCSE test, Sironga Secondary had a mean score of 8.2.
St Albert Ulanda Girls
On the other hand, St Albert Ulanda Girls was founded in 1967 and was named an extra county school during the government's restructuring programme for National schools in the country.
The school posted remarkable results in 2021 KCSE results as they attained a mean score of 8.5 with 529 candidates. Nearly 99 per cent of the students managed to get direct entry to the University.
St Albert Ulanda made headlines in 2016 after a stray bullet hit a student who was playing as Prison wardens pursued a convict who has escaped prison.
