For young Celsius Siwan, no amount of challenge could come between him and success in his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations.
The sixteen-year-old Siwan from Moi High School in Nakuru attained an A plain grade of 82 points to emerge among top boys in the 2025 KCSE exams in the county.
It was celebrations for parents, teachers and students on Friday after the release of the examination results.
The school registered 82 A plain grade results, 150 A minus while 119 candidates posted a B plus grade.
When the Kenya News Agency team arrived at the school, parents and teachers were celebrating master Siwan’s achievement.
The soft-spoken boy said he hopes to join a local university to pursue his dream of becoming a software engineer.
“I am very happy as I have seen that my dreams have started coming true. I achieved this through hard work and prayers,” said the boy.
Siwan attributed his exemplary performance to support from teachers, his fellow students and parents whom he said inspired and mentored him to work hard despite a number of challenges.
Ms Elseba Cheruiyot the chief principal of the school said that all the 406 candidates in the institution performed very well this year. “So far all our candidates performed very well. I am very much delighted,” she said.
Ms Cheruiyot said top performers included Siwan, Covenant Ombati who scored an A minus of 76 points and Beatrice Chepkirui who attained an A minus of 74 points. She described the three as having been focused, dedicated and hardworking students. She said the school registered a 10.6 mean score.
“My Chief Principal has always been there for me. There was stiff competition from boys but she would always tell me I would make it. She would call me for a chat just to encourage me to work very hard,” said Chepkirui.
Chepkirui indicated that she was content after beating some of the top performers in her school, who oscillated between positions one and five in internal exams.
She held that more and more girls were succeeding over boys in primary and secondary schools because they were more apt to plan ahead, set academic goals, and put effort into achieving those goals.
The 17-year-old who aspires to be a pharmacist said she was happy with her results. “I know I have made my parents, family, and teachers proud,” she said.
“I owe my success to my class teacher and head teacher, who were very patient with me even when I panicked. At times, I feared I was not going to do well but they encouraged me and assured me all would be well,” Chepkirui said.
She added: “I realized that though an exam may last two hours or so, it decides my life. I owe my success to God and I would like to tell every girl out there that so long as they put their heart to something and commit it to God, He will come through for them,” she said.
Her success, she said also came from support from her parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. “I would like to particularly thank my Mathematics and Science teachers. They made it possible for me to get As in the subjects,” she said.
She, however, added it was not all smooth sailing as she needed the guidance of those who had excelled.
“I had challenges in other subjects, but I kept working hard and it worked,” she recalls.
However, to her, every subject was unique. She loved mathematics, English and science subjects.
A parent Winnie Kiritich lauded the top academic standards and consistent performance registered by the school. “Hard work and committed teachers are what made most of these students post good grades,” stated Ms Kiritich. “Our children have done us proud and it is through hard work and discipline that they have excelled in the examinations,” said Ms Kiritich.
She added, “So far, I am happy with the results and I thank the school management. I will let my son decide what he wants to do in life. I am not the kind of parent to force a child to do what I want.”
Master Ombati who aspires to be a neurosurgeon said he learnt of the good news from his mother after she received an SMS about the results. He however said that though he had expected to score a plain A, he was impressed by the outcome.
He attributed the school’s impressive performance to dedication by parents and God’s grace.
“We put in more efforts and my mother supported me by ensuring that I went on with my studies,” stated Ombati. He indicated that all his classmates had consistently demonstrated their abilities at the school.
“We are happy that we all performed well in the KCSE examination. This is a reflection of our hard work, determination and discipline,” said the student.
By Jane Ngugi and Dennis Rasto
