Female candidates from Bungoma county performed better than their male counterparts in this year's KCPE exams. The girls also topped in most schools.
Bungoma Knut secretary Ken Nganga attributed the good performance to the attention given to the girls.
Nganga said the boys have been forgotten. He urged parents, teachers and educationists to ensure both boys and girls get equal attention.
The results released on Monday by Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha showed Bungoma had the largest number of female candidates who sat the KCPE exam.
Bungoma had 47,300 registered candidates. Female candidates were 24,098 while males were 23,202.
The county, which is the fifth most populous according to this year' census data, also had the highest number of young candidates.
Twelve inmates also sat the exam at Bungoma prison.
Schools that posted exemplary performances in the exams included Sambu Primary, Bungoma DEB, Marell Academy, Highway Bukembe Primary, Nzoia Industrial Primary and Mother Kelvin.
Each school had at least 20 students who scored over 400 marks.
Little-known Sambu Primary from Webuye East constituency produced the best student from the county. Collins Omutere scored 432 marks.
Omutere said he was happy with the results, which he attributed to hard work, prayers and discipline.
He said his dream was to join Starehe Boys Centre and later be a neurosurgeon.
Mary Wanjiru, the youngest pupil aged 12 years from Nzoia Industrial Primary in Kanduyi constituency, scored 412 marks.
Wanjiru said she was disappointed with the results as she expected to score 445 marks.
She said that she would like to join Mary Hill Girls High School in Thika. Wanjiru wants to be a lawyer in future.
"There is a lot of graft in the country and most innocent people are behind bars while the guilty people go scot-free. I would like to address this issue after I become a lawyer," she said
Bungoma has been experiencing high cases of teen pregnancies that have forced many students to drop out of school.
Most of the perpetrators are relatives, boda boda riders and tutors.
