I want to be a pharmacist, says top KCPE girl

Olive Mwea and Rawlings Odhiambo emerged the joint top pupils in this year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) results scoring 453 marks.

Mwea, the top girl nationally sat her exams at Riara Group of Schools in Nairobi while Odhiambo wrote his exams at Kakamega Hills School in Kakamega County.

Coincidentally, both students scored 99% in Mathematics, 92% in English, 97% in Kiswahili, 81% in Science and 84% in Social Studies.

At Riara Group of Schools parents, pupils and teachers burst into celebrations as they lauded Mwea for a remarkably good performance.

Mwea didn’t hide her joy as she said the results came as a shocker.

“I didn’t expect to score 453 marks, I expected to score 433, when I got the results this afternoon it was unbelievable, I was really excited, ” said Mwea.

Riara school principal Naomi Mbugua expressed her joy saying it was the institution’s first time to produce a top candidate nationally.

“I’m so delighted that we have the first child, this is our first time, having done KCPE for the last 28 years, ” she said.

Mrs. Mbugua said Mwea was a hard working girl full of humility.

“She is a very diligent girl very strong in languages, math and all subjects, her humility is amazing,” she added.

Her mother was also delighted, saying her daughter was self motivated.

“She worked hard, I’m really grateful she got what she deserved, she was self motivated, ” she said. “She seemed to have enjoyed her readings.”

Mwea wants to become a pharmacist later in life.

In this year’s results, female candidates out shined their male counterparts in English, Swahili and Kenya sign language.

The boys performed better in Mathematics, Science, Social Studies and Religious Education.

A total of 2,495 candidates with special needs sat the 2018 KCPE exam with the best scoring 446.

Of the over one million candidates, 12,273 scored over 400 marks while 228,414 attained between 301 and 400 marks.

On the other hand 574,927 pupils attained between 201 and 300 marks while 234,573 candidates had between 101 and 200 marks.

A total of 2,177 pupils had 100 marks and below and 4 students had their results cancelled for irregularities linked to impersonation.