Education stakeholders in Kwale have maintained that schools in the region posted impressive results despite the county failing to produce an A grade in the 2020 KCSE results.
Kwale High and Matuga Girls had many candidates scoring A- (minuses).
The two institutions being the national schools and many times known as the county’s best were the region’s last hope.
Many anticipated them to lift Kwale’s pride to a greater height after the county produced the second-best student in the Coast region.
While national schools in Mombasa like Mama Ngina Girls and Shimo La Tewa reclaimed their titles in the top performers' list, those from Kwale were nowhere.
County education director Martin Cheruiyot, however, said Kwale schools deserve medals for recording improved results.
For example, Matuga Girls produced 7 A- (minuses) with a mean score of 7.828 compared to the 2019 KCSE class that managed only a single A minus with a mean grade of 7.097.
Kwale High had a mean grade of 7.74 with 9 A- (minuses) compared to the 2019 7.01 mean score.
Other schools like Kinango Secondary registered two B+, six B plain, 15 B-, 27 C+, 43 C, 28 C- and 10 D+ with a mean grade of 6.267.
Kaya Tiwi High School had a single B+.
Cheruiyot said the results indicated a general rise in the performance curve adding that many students have got university entry marks.
“If we try to reason out, we can say that our schools have performed well because getting A minus is not a joke and the mean scores can speak for themselves,” he said.
The director said the Covid-19 pandemic was one of the reasons that made Kwale schools not produce A plains.
He said students had long holidays and the environment couldn’t allow many learners to engage in online studies introduced by the government.
A total of 7,046 candidates sat for the 2020 KCSE exam in the region.
Kwale is among 15 counties that had more girls than boys registered for the KCSE exam.
The number of KCSE candidates, however, dropped compared to the 15,177 KCPE candidates in 2016.
In between 2016 up-to mid-2019, the county recorded the highest number of teen pregnancies with some being married off.
According to the United Nations Population Funds 2019 data, Tana River, Kwale and Kilifi had the highest prevalence of teenage pregnancies at the Coast, with Kwale figures standing at 24 per cent, higher than the national average of 18 per cent.
Last year, Kwale reported more than 2,821 cases of teen pregnancies.
Matuga Girls Principal Gladys Chivatsi blamed the Covid-19 for the low performance.
She thanked the students for the excellent performance saying they did their best despite the challenges.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris