Teachers, parents and learners celebrate the stellar performance at CDM Emmanuel Junior School Kangari/ ALICE WAITHERAJubilations filled Kangari town in Kigumo constituency, Murang’a county, as parents, teachers and learners at CDM Emmanuel Junior School Kangari celebrated stellar results.
The school emerged among the best nationally with 195 out of 252 pupils (77 per cent) scoring Exceeding Expectation 1, 50 had Exceeding Expectation 2 and seven scored Meeting Expectation 1.
The school's management attributed the good performance to the co-operation of teachers, parents and learners.
Principal James Kalerwe said that the pupils performed better in sciences as girls outperformed boys, a phenomenon experienced nationally in the KJSEA examinations, where girls performed better in 10 of the 12 subjects assessed.
“We had 140 girls and 112 boys, and I can confidently say our last learner scored a Meeting Expectation 1 of about 60 points,” he said.
Kalerwe said the said the school treated learners as their own children, ensuring each attends the necessary lessons and thorough revisions are done.
Gacheru Gitau, one of the candidates, scored Exceeding Expectation 1 in all subjects, emerging as one of the top students in the school and nationally.
His ambition is to become an engineer, with his senior school of choice being Mang’u Boys High School in Kiambu county.
“I’m grateful for the support I have received from my parents and teachers that has enabled me to excel in the exams,” Gitau said.
Sharleen Wairigia, another learner, scored Exceeding Expectation 1, saying weekly tests they undertook exposed their weak points and allowed teachers to help them cover them.
“We were challenged continuously and this made us better because we worked on areas where we were weaker,” she said.
Warigia hopes to become a lawyer in future, and her senior school of choice is Moi Girls High School.
Parents on their part praised the Competence Based Education system, saying despite exposing learners to better learning techniques, it compels them to participate in their children's studies.
This, in turn, ensures they are up to date with the challenges their children face and motivate them to do better.
Anne Maina said as parents, they are consistently involved in their children’s learning, ensuring their support for their children is unfaltering.
Fr Richard Kigotho said the Catholic-church sponsored school has been prioritising the psychological development of learners by providing consistent counselling that helps them cope with the challenges experienced during adolescence.
The counselling eliminates disruptions and helps them focus on their studies, boosting their performance.
“We ensure the children’s well-being is taken care of all-round,” he said.
"We ensure they are developed spiritually, academically and psychologically because no child can focus in class when these three are not in balance."
A total of 1.1 million learners sat the 2025 KJSEA across the country. The learners are the pioneer cohort graduating from junior secondary under CBE and will transition into senior secondary school next year.
KJSEA covers 12 learning areas and performance is reported via four bands that include Exceeding Expectation, Meeting Expectation, Approaching Expectation and Below Expectation, which is the lowest.
About 75 per cent of learners nationally performed at Approaching Expectation or higher across all subjects.
While announcing the results on December 11, Education CS Julius Ogamba said seven subjects had a majority of learners achieving Meeting or Exceeding Expectations.
They included Hindu Religious Education (84.62 per cent), Integrated Science (61.77 per cent), Social Studies (58.56 per cent), Creative Arts and Sports (58.04 per cent), Kiswahili (57.98 per cent), Christian Religious Education (53.96 per cent) and Agriculture (52.26 per cent).
The CS said 59.09 per cent of all candidates demonstrated the potential to pursue the STEM pathway in senior school, 46.52 per cent qualified for the social sciences pathway and 48.73 per cent for the Arts and Sports pathway.
Placement to senior schools will begin next week and conclude by December 20, with the 9,540 institutions being categorised into C1, C2, C3 and C4 based on the pathways they offer.
INSTANT ANALYSIS
The school's management attributed the good performance to the co-operation of teachers, parents and learners. Sharleen Wairigia, a learner, scored Exceeding Expectation 1 saying weekly tests they undertook exposed their weak points and allowed teachers to help them cover them. Anne Maina said as parents, they were consistently involved in their children’s learning, ensuring their support for their children was unfaltering.
