Bridge Pupils get admission to top national schools

Bridge pupils who sat for the 2021 KCPE exams have received placements to top national schools in the country. The Ministry of Education released the form one selection results this week.

The best performing boy from the institution that runs affordable community schools across the country was Edwin Oduor from Majengo Mapya in Mombasa. Edwin scored an outstanding 402 marks and has been selected to join Starehe Boy’s Centre and School.

“I am happy that the determination, the hard work, and the perseverance has paid off. I am grateful to my primary school and teachers for setting a strong foundation. I wouldn’t have achieved this without them,” says Edwin.

The 15-year-old has been a Bridge pupil for the past seven years. He sat for his KCPE exams at Bridge Majengo Mapya academy, a community school within the informal settlement of Likoni in Mombasa County.

The top performing Bridge girls were Florence Kwamboka and Joyce Kemunto from Mukuru Kwa Njenga Community in Nairobi County, both scoring 401 respectively. Joyce Kemunto has been selected to join Alliance Girls High School, while Florence Kwamboka has been selected to join Nyabururu Girls High, a girls’ national school located in Kisii County.

Both Florence and Joyce have been pupils at Bridge Kwa Njenga academy for the past eight years. The school is located in the heart of the vast Mukuru Kwa Njenga community in Nairobi.

This year's form one selection was conducted digitally. The Ministry of Education used affirmative action to ensure that children from schools in arid and semi-arid areas were included in the national school selection. Pupils from informal settlements also benefitted from the affirmative action in line with a directive by President Kenyatta that needy and vulnerable children from informal settlements in urban areas be considered. Informal settlements identified under this arrangement were from Thika, Nyeri, Kisumu, Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru and Eldoret. 

In the 2021 KCPE, Bridge pupils outperformed the KCPE nationwide average for the seventh consecutive year.

The average pass rate for Bridge pupils was 61.5%, with the passing rate of pupils who have been at Bridge for five years and above at 76%. The average score of pupils who have learned at Bridge for more than 5 years was 290.5 marks compared to 283.3 marks the previous year. The stats show that the longer children attend a Bridge school the better their performance.