National schools in Kenya-Do they enhance inequalities in Kenyan high schools.

Each year as the KCPE exams are being done, many students hope that they will secure places in the exclusive Kenyan Ivy League high schools, otherwise known as national schools. Many a parent will sacrifice everything to see their son or daughter attend one of these schools. Many people quite rightly think that by just attending these schools, their otherwise average student will quickly become an A student.

Their assertions might in deed be true as many students do in deed pass highly in many of these schools. For instance, the Alliance High school alone posted 104 As in the 2009 KCSE exam. This represents just about 12% of the total number of A students in the entire country. How is it possible that one school alone produces such a large number of As that even a whole province cannot? Now, if all the students decided to apply for admission places at the University Of Nairobi’s medical school, then the whole medical class could be filled with students from only one school. Still, you have not added about fifty or so As from starehe, 20 something each from Mang’u, Nairobi school, Lenana, Alliance Girls, Loreto Limuru among others.This certainly paints a very depressing picture.Granted, there are some provincial schools that give the national schools a run for their money. Schools such as Precious Blood, Friends school kamusinga, Lugulu Girls among others do indeed post excellent results.

One may argue that national schools pick students from every corner in the country and this helps students in the underprivileged areas to access quality education. While this was undeniably true in some years past, the only diversity that exists nowadays is regional diversity. In terms of economic class, the students are largely the same. As the quality of public primary schools continues to deteriorate, the huge inequalities are likely to be enhanced.Granted, their will be few exceptions here and there but the socio economic class of the students will remain the same.Perhaps, the alumni from these schools should be encouraged to give back to the schools so that they can admit more students from the underprivileged areas. This will ensure that the schools will admit the most gifted students without regard to their ability to pay.

Of course, not all students who attend national schools pass.However, even for those that fail to make the grade, most likely they come from privileged backgrounds and can still afford to pay for studies in private universities, join parallel degree programmes or go for studies abroad.