The oldest prisoner to sit for KCSE, Grapton Mukopi, aged 74, scored 10 points (E) in the national exams released on Saturday.
However, there was a reason to celebrate at Naivasha GK prison after another inmate, Isaac Sitati, scored 36 points (C-) despite facing a lot of challenges.
Despite the poor performance, the inmates and warders exuded confidence of performing better in the future.
According to the officer in charge of the prison Hassan Tari, out of the 16 inmates who sat the exam, 11 had D and above.
He was full of praise for the inmates, noting that they had done well despite the challenges and difficult learning environment.
“Unlike other candidates, we don’t have laboratories and have to rely on neighbouring schools but the inmates managed to overcome that,” he said.
Tari said education had turned out to be a major tool for reforms in the prison with over 1,500 inmates enrolled in school.
“Despite emerging challenges like lack of trained teachers, we have seen an increase in the number of inmates joining the education programme,” he said.
But at Utumishi Boys Academy in Gilgil, it was song and dance after the institution produced some of the top students in Nakuru county.
The top students Mungai Victor Kamau and Ndirangu James Maina garnered an impressive 84 points, with 283 students scoring C+ and above
Two students scored straight A, 17 (A-), 61 (B+), 74 (B), 70 (B-) while 57 got C+.
A parent in the school, James Kimani, was full of praise for the teachers and students, noting that performance in the school was on the rise in the last couple of years.
“Currently, the number of students in the school is very high but we are proud of the work done by the teaching fraternity and the effort by the students,” he said.
Edited by Henry Makori
