[Alliance Girls students pausing for a photo with President Uhuru Kenyatta. They emerged third countrywide. Photo/softkenya]
Academic giants were dislodged from the top by at least two new comers in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary School Education, reports the Nation.
Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i released the result earlier on Tuesday at Nairobi school with initial scrutiny showing that candidates performed poorly than in 2016 edition.
Little known Singore Girls from Elgeyo-Marakwet is this years best performing school with performance index of 69.9 points.
Light Academy of Mombasa follows closely with 69.1 points while Alliance Girls came third with 68.8 points.
Nairobi's Kenya High emerged forth with 68.2 points while Loreto Limuru closed top five list with an impressive 68.1 points.
Although it did not feature among top five, Pangani Girls of Nairobi produced three girls among top ten performers countrywide.
Overall, 70, 073 students qualified for direct entry to public universities, a drastic drop from 88,000 in 2016 exams.
The results shows drastic improvement in girls schools with academic giants Alliance High, Mang'u, Maranda, Nairobi school and Starehe Boys Center failing to feature among top five.