Over the years, sub-county schools across the country have been performing dismally due to a myriad of challenges that most of the institutions grapple with.

The poor performance has been attributed to the fact that the students are given instructions during the day, after which they return to their homes, therefore, loosing a lot of time that should be spend studying on the road and attending to house chores at home.

The derelict state of facilities, including classrooms, laboratories, playgrounds, among others in such schools, compared to their boarding, Extra County and National schools  conterparts have also been blamed.

“Most learners who study in these institutions are required to undertake extra home chores, including tending to domestic animals, fetching water, cooking, among others, a situation that reduces their study time,” an educator in Kiambu County told Scholar.

The institutions have, however, dusted off the bad narrative and are now on a mission to fight with academic giants in the extra-county and national schools, as witnessed in the just released Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) 2021 exam results.

In the results released by Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha, the lowly-ranked institutions registered remarkable performance producing top students nationally.

Among the best performing Sub-County schools as announced by the CS are Nyakeore Secondary School in Nyanza, Kebulonik Secondary School in Rift Valley, Banisa Mixed Secondary School in Mandera and Manyatta Mixed Secondary School in Eastern region.

Others were Shibanda Mixed Secondary School in Western, Heni Secondary School, Central, Mary Happy Day School and Al-Farsy Girls Secondary School.

“Our Sub-County schools will form the future of this country. The government has deliberately invested in these day schools, which registered excellent performance,” said Prof Magoha.

The institutions produced top candidates nationally among them Anthony Njuguna Muhoro from Kiamaina Secondary School who gallantly scored 84.364 points closely followed by Owino Eric from Akoko Secondary School who scored 83.71 points.

Others, in the best performers rank announced by Prof Magoha were Karuitha Clinton from Angaini Mixed Day Secondary School (81.449), Achesa Alukoti from Matunda Day Secondary School (81.237), Diangui Frank Wagura from St. James Kiarithia Secondary School (79.4), Mulei Kelvin from Dandora Secondary School (79.213), Nkirimia Dennis Mwamburi who scored 78.246 points and Ronald Kipkoech from Kiblabotwa Secondary School who managed 74.9 points.

Teachers, learners and other stakeholders in the sub-county schools who spoke to Scholar yesterday maintained that any school, irrespective of their location or state can produce bright Kenyans.

Anne Wambui Mbugua, a teacher at Milimani High School in Naivasha, Nakuru County, says most learners complete primary level well but for some reasons, such as financial constraints, they are forced to join day schools near their home areas. Wambui who also schooled at little known Mataara Secondary School in Gatundu North, Kiambu County and garnered enough marks to qualify her to join Egerton University and eventually become a mathematics teacher stated that most learners in the Sub-County schools work hard to eradicate poverty in their families as most of them come from very humble backgrounds.

She said that learners in Extra-County and national schools suffer from over confidence because of their ‘shinning’ culture, which most fail to sustain.

“Teachers in Sub-County schools work extra hard to improve the quality of performance for the learners therein as most of them are enrolled with very low marks. We strive to complete the syllabus on time to create ample time for revision. I think this, coupled with extra tuition programmes have enabled learners to compete effectively with those in boarding schools who have all the time, including evenings to study,” said teacher Wambui.

Her sentiments were echoed by Joe Mungai, a long-serving teacher who insisted that Kenyans and the world should not be surprised that sub-county have reincarnated, redefined themselves to the Kenyan books of academic excellence.

The success in Sub-County schools, he said, are a result of funding by the government, entry behaviour, qualified teachers, elimination of exam cheating and extra effort by the learners.

“Most of these students were qualified to join Extra-County and even National Schools, but due to financial limitations and myths associated with parents personal funding of their children’s education in these schools, parents’ chicken out and opt to take their children to financially “friendlier” institutions,” said Mungai.

Moses Njonge, a former student at St Ulrich Lama Secondary School in Subukia constituency, Nakuru county who managed to score a B-, learners in Sub-County schools must go an extra mile to achieve better results.

Njonge stated that students in day schools suffer from inadequate teachers and are required to gather more educational materials to comprehend hurriedly handled academic concepts. “This however did not stop me from shining, I am happy I rose from the remotely located school to become a successful businessman,” Njonge who is an industrialist said.

In his statement President Uhuru Kenyatta commended subcounty schools for posting  remarkable improvement, sayong the improvement is as a result of the enhanced government investment in the education sector and backs efforts to ensure 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school education.

He pointed out that more resources should be channeled to the Sub-Counties and day schools as they are a lesser burden to parents.

“More resources should be channeled to these schools, which are less of a burden to the parents and they are performing,” he said.