A total of 560 top students drawn from 51 secondary schools in Lugari Constituency are participating in two separate workshops dubbed academic villages, meant to enhance academic performance. The boys totaling 308 are at Kivaywa Boys High School, while 256 girls are at Archbishop Njenga Girls High School. According to the area Member of Parliament Nabii Nabwera who has sponsored the one-week academic villages ending on Saturday, his focus is to uplift the dismal performance of secondary schools in the constituency. Speaking at the girls’ workshop Tuesday, Nabii appealed to the candidates not to take the opportunities for granted. He said: ‘You should all look up to me. If you have any issue with your parents look up to me as your parent. All I am saying is that I am sacrificing in order for you to be better people in future. ‘I am giving you a lifetime opportunity because you can only access all the good things you dream of, if you have your own money. Just postpone wanting to enjoy today,’ he added. ‘Postpone laziness for these few months…..Listen carefully to your teachers and avoid looking for just a quality grade but rather aim for an A grade,’ reiterated the legislator. Nabii said he believes all the students partaking in the workshops are capable of scoring an A grade and that is why he is exposing them to the academic experience. ‘These teachers have taken me through the process you will undergo and I believe each of you is an A grade material. There is a reason we have assembled you in the two schools. For instance the facilities of Bishop Njenga Girls are equivalent to those in Loreto Girls Limuru or Alliance Girls and we are bringing to you people who are exposed beyond your schools,’ said Nabwera. ‘That means we value you. Can you reciprocate by valuing yourselves? If you value yourselves your value must be an A-grade and nothing else,’ he emphasized. He told the students that they ought to be bright because Kenya is now a qualitative society. Nabwera said he will be rewarding top candidate in each paper they will be tested on during the academic village with Sh2000 for the top performer, while the second best will receive Sh1000. He reminded the students of another forthcoming academic village in August, but cautioned them that they will have to maintain good performance for them to attend. Lugari Sub County Director of Education Magdalene Igwatai lauded the MP for the initiative saying it was long overdue. ‘This particular seminar is the brainchild of the MP. It is aimed at enhancing performance of our schools. We agreed last year that for us to enhance performance in our schools we have to bring together our top students to be sensitized on how to perform better,’ she explained, adding that they are aware the teachers might be working hard but not working smart. Igwatai disclosed that in every school board meeting she has attended for the last seven years in Lugari, academic and financial issues take most of the time. She urged the students to be good ambassadors once schools re-open as they are the chosen few – 10 percent from each school’s candidate class. ‘Let the money the MP is investing not go to waste. You must share the knowledge you acquire from here with other students who didn’t make it to the village. We don’t want to agonize again when your results will be released next year. We want schools in Lugari and Matete Sub County to celebrate quality grades which we have really thirsted for. We have not had an A while the A-minuses have just been isolated-like last year we only had three of them in Lugari,’ she said. She linked poor performance in Lugari schools to absenteeism, minimal parental involvement in academic matters of their children and teenage pregnancies citing a case of last year where six girls delivered during the examination period. Lugari Kenya Secondary School Heads Association chair David Makokha also lauded the MP for the programmes he is putting in place to boost performance in schools saying it is a new dawn for the constituency. He said: ‘This program is the very best. We have identified distinguished facilitators in this country. The students will be spoken to by Kenya National Examination Council chief examiners and assistant chief examiners in charge of respective subjects.’ He revealed that 60 teachers from the constituency are set to be capacity built in 5 subjects namely English, Kiswahili, Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology.
Source: Kenya News Agency