“A well fed brain is always an excellent brain,” The Headmaster of New Life High School John Africa said when asked the secret for his school to emerge the best in just released ‘O’ Level results.
Officially the state minister for primary and secondary school Dr Matthias Harebamungu has publicly announced the rural based school New Life High School in Kayonza District emerged the best performer in 2011 examination results among 1,061 schools nationwide.
The school had 38 students who sat 2011 ‘O’ Level examinations only 3 students attained the second grade while the rest were in the first grade including John Bosco Habimana said to have emerged the second student in the country.
The first student came from Maranyundo Girl in Bugesera District a few kilometers away from the Kayonza based New Life High School where second student was.
“We are a Christian school and our values are based on Christianity, we instill high level of discipline, feed students very well and treat them well, and have the best teacher in chemistry, geography and history,” The Headmaster John Africa told IGIHE.com by his cell phone.
“A hungry child will never learn, we always tell them bread will never put for them on a silver plate, they have to work hard for it. We tell them however much we are in rural area but we still compete with well placed and more advantaged schools in Kigali or elsewhere and we tell them they can do it,” Africa added.
The trend repeated itself as rural-based secondary schools trampled their urban counterparts in the 2011 ‘O’ Level examinations.
New Life High School in Kayonza District, Eastern Province emerged the overall best school with an average aggregate of 14, followed by its neighbor Maranyundo Girls’ School of Bugesera, Eastern Province and then a Kigali based Lycee Notre-Dame de Citeaux of Nyarugenge District.
Others are Petit Seminaire St. Pie X De Nyundo in Rubavu, Western Province, Petit Seminaire St. Leon Kabgayi in Muhanga, Southern Province and Petit Seminaire Nkumba in Gakenke, Northern Province.
They were followed by Nu-Vision High School in Gasabo, Kigal, Petit Seminaire Rwesero in Gicumbi, Northern Province, Petit Seminaire Ndera in Gasabo, Kigali and Esc Byimana in Ruhango Distrcit, Southern Province.
Ten students tied at the top, with New Life, Nu-Vision, Lycee Notre-Dame de Citeaux, FAWE Girls School in Gasabo District, Kigali each producing two students among the top ten.
Although a slight improvement was registered in the pass rate of girls in the first division, boys still dominated the top divisions, with 52.7 percent.
Boys came out top in science subjects, contributing 29 out of the 50 best performers countrywide.
The State Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Matthias Harebamungu, said heads of schools will start to collect results from their respective district headquarters on Monday.
“Examinations were held in 355 examination centers and candidates were from 1,061 schools nationwide, a significant increase compared to 2010,” Harebamungu said.
Placement for senior 4 will take place on the January 27 and 28, according to the Rwanda Examinations Board officials.
ENDS
Leave a Reply