This archive report was first published on 23 November 2019.
Published on November 23, 2019, a follow-up by the Saturday Nation reveals that a majority of the candidates who topped the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations 10 years ago went on to shine in high school and university.
Peter Kamenju Njoroge, the boy who led the pack with 438 marks out of the possible 500, had expressed his desire to become a neurosurgeon to help many in society.
‘I’d like to join Alliance High School. From there, I will further my studies and become a surgeon, which is my dream career,’ Kamenju told a local TV station on the day he was announced the best KCPE candidate.
He is on track to achieving this dream as he is currently a fifth-year student at the University of Nairobi’s (UoN) School of Medicine.
Abbas Naeem Essajjee, the top student in Coast province in the 2009 KCPE exams, also emerged top in Mombasa County in the 2013 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations with a mean score of 86.831 points.
Like Kamenju, he is now a fifth-year student of medicine at UoN.
John Adams Nalo, who garnered 423 marks in the 2009 KCPE, would later join Starehe Boys High School, score an A (minus) in KCSE and get admitted to the UoN School of Law.
Orori Conrad Ongoi, the student who topped in Nyanza province in the 2009 test, later joined Nakuru High School and scored an A in the 2013 KCSE, before joining the Technical University of Kenya, where he is studying geospatial engineering.
These top performers shared their perspectives on education, with Kamenju advising learners to think beyond exams and to invest their youthful energy in innovation and competence.
‘Exams are not a test of intelligence but of discipline and organisation. They do not necessarily favour intelligence,’ Kamenju said.
Abbas Naeem Essajee’s mother, Rashida Naeem Essajee, described him as disciplined, obedient and extremely prayerful, values which contributed to his good performance.
