Top performing public primary school for decades has this year blamed the pandemic for its sharp drop in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) performance released on Wednesday.

The unbeatable academic giant Kathigiri Public Boarding school in Meru county has this year recorded a decline in performance a move the headteacher Josleen Mugambi blamed on Covid -19 pandemic that sent pupils to a prolonged holiday.

“We have been always the best public school in the country, this years hopefully we could be if ranking could have been done but dropping from mean score of 408.71 and 400.56 in 2018 and 2019 respectively is big blow to us but our students and teachers tried their best despite the corona effect that led to cut- off teacher – pupil direct contacts,” said Mrs Mugambi.

Supported by his deputy David Mwenda, they said majority of their pupils could not access online learning like their private school counterparts thus leading to their drop in 2020 performance.

“We have been beaten by some private schools because most of our candidates could not afford laptops and smartphone at home to do home work and assignments for the nine months they stayed at home and that contributed greatly to their laxity,” added Mwenda.

The school that has attracted student across the country owing to it tremendous performance has at the same time in the past produced the best candidates nationally with 80 percent of their pupils joining national schools every year.

“We actually take over 80 percent of our pupils to national schools every year, more than ten joining Alliance girls and boys. We thank God that some of our students are doctors and Engineers among others,” said the headteachers .

Promising to claim back their lost glory they warned their competitors to prepare for titanic defeat in the next exam attributing their good results to hard work,unity and commitment of the teachers,discipline and support from the parents .