A KCPE top achiever being carried. [Photo/nation.co.ke]
Scrutiny of the released 2017 KCPE results shows that public schools in the country made significant gains against private schools.
Private schools have dominated the list of well-performing schools for a very long time making Kenyan parents think twice about taking their children to public schools.
The poor performance by public schools has been driven largely by the lack of adequate resources, unlike private schools which enjoy better resources.
In spite of the harsh realities that pupils in public schools have to grapple with, this time around they did very well unlike in previous years.
The second-best student in the country came from a public school.
Baringo's top candidate, Daniel Kiplagat, from a public school, scored 428 marks.
John Paul 2 Primary School's best candidate scored 441 marks.
Machakos Primary top candidate, Deborah Ndanu, managed 429 marks.
The good performance registered by public schools has been credited on the raft of reforms undertaken by Education CS Fred Matiang'i.
Matiang'i reforms include awarding headteachers of schools that make it to the top 100 list which has acted as an incentive for public schools to work hard.