Bridge Kenya graduates get into top secondary schools in the country

Winning a secondary school place at one of Kenya’s top national schools – tagged the crème de la crème of schools – can seem like an insurmountable challenge for those living in communities that Bridge Kenya supports.

Yet due to the strong foundations set by teachers across their community schools , Bridge Kenya KCPE graduates are attending those secondary schools that would have previously been seen as beyond reach. Bridge Kenya pupils excelled in the 2020 exams,; with the highest achievers among the top 0.68% of performers in Kenya, those with scores of 400 or more. Now, Bridge Kenya graduates have been rewarded with places at some of the top secondary schools in the country.

The combination of dedicated and committed teachers and high-quality lesson design has enabled Bridge Kenya pupils to outperform the national KCPE average for the last six years in a row – every time they have entered the exams – with those who receive a Bridge Kenya education for five or more years learning the same amount as their peers in other schools learn in seven.

Morara Chrispo Oseko—pictured above—was our top performing pupil in the 2020 KCPE exams, scoring an amazing 413 marks to make him one of the very top performing pupils in the entire country.
Chrispo studied at Bridge Kenya for 5 years and says that the teaching at Bridge Kenya and the dedication of the teachers transformed him into a better pupil since he joined the school.

He said, “I’m so proud to be among the top pupils in the country. My school and my teachers made me believe that I can achieve my dreams if I study hard and now, I can see that it is true. I know this is just the beginning and I can go on and perform well in secondary school.”

Chrispo hopes his wonderful KCPE result will help him towards his dream of becoming a doctor. He says he studied hard throughout the school year, even when the schools were closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Chrispo used the free Bridge@home learning materials to continue learning at home and says he is grateful that the learning materials kept him engaged, and helped him prepare for the KCPE exams.
He is well on his way!
Chrispo’s exceptional marks earned him a place at Alliance High School, a unique opportunity for him to continue pursuing his dream of becoming a doctor.

It’s not just Chrispo who will have a lot to live up to. Bunyore Girls High School will be the destination for highflying graduate Kimberly Betty (above). For 13-year-old Kimberly , her brilliant mark of 411 in the 2020 KCPE exams is a wonderful base for her dreams of going onto a career in medicine.

Kimberly comes from Kuriot village, Kipkaren River in Uasin Gishu County and was a Bridge Kenya pupil for 10 years. She says that Bridge Kenya teachers are good and make it easy for pupils to understand all the details. Her elder sister is a student at Mukumu Girls High School.
Kimberly used to trek on foot for nearly an hour to school every day, but when Covid-19 hit and schools closed she turned to the free Bridge Kenya @home programme to keep learning while at home.

She said: “Bridge Kenya has made me a better person. I gained confidence and was able to speak in public. I will be forever grateful for what my teachers did to help me to perform so well in the KCPE.
I prepared for KCPE by doing a lot of revisions and praying to God. My dad, family members and friends always encouraged me.”

It’s not just Chrispo and Kimberly who have had their KCPE success recognised with fantastic school placements. This year, an incredible 58 Bridge Kenya graduates attained places at high-performing national secondary schools, including Alliance Girls High School and Maranda High School.

The journey of pupils from underserved communities through Bridge Kenya schools and into excellent secondary schools is important not only for the immediacy of opportunity and advantages it gives to the individual children and their families. Over time, it is important because it will start to shift the prosperity of their whole communities. Enabling thousands of children from these communities to gain a strong primary school foundation—to excel in numeracy —offers a wealth of possibilities and opportunities that their own parents and grandparents simply did not have. Those possibilities and opportunities are being carried by the Bridge Kenya KCPE Class of 2020 now into quality secondary schools.

The journey that thousands of Bridge Kenya children have taken from a successful primary foundation into top secondary schools looks set to continue. 2020 KCPE results concluded that our pupils scored an average of 21 points higher than pupils nationally, the highest in Bridge Kenya history. And, for the sixth year in succession, Bridge Kenya pupils outperformed the national average. Thousands of Grade 8 Bridge Kenya pupils across Kenya sat the exam. Overall, of the children who had attended Bridge Kenya, 34% scored more than 300 marks, which gives a competitive edge in admissions to great secondary schools. Nationally less than 25% of pupils achieved such high scores.

Pupils such as Chrispo and Kimberly have done incredibly well to get into Alliance High School and Bunyore Girls High School respectively, but not everyone is as fortunate. Many children still do receive the high quality education which is their right and which can set them on the path to great success and great opportunity. At Bridge Kenya we are determined to continue to strive to narrow the equity gap for all Kenya’s youth, so that everybody has the opportunity to turn their dreams into a reality through wonderful learning.