Nairobi — Alliance High School bounced back in the Kenya Certificate Secondary Examinations (KCSE) results announced yesterday to snatch the top position countrywide from such giants as Precious Blood-Riruta and Starehe Boys Centre.

The old and highly respected boys' school - which has in its roll top personalities in the country - stood on the platform of victory that had eluded it for several years.

In last year's Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination results announced yesterday by acting Education minister Noah Wekesa, the school trampled its traditional competitors in the Central Kenya turf.

In 2004, the school was ranked third behind Nairobi's Starehe and Strathmore schools. In 2005, Ogutu Byron Wambogo of Alliance High School emerged the second top candidate nationally and was first in central Kenya. He scored 84.143 points.

The second school in the region was Nyeri's Bishop Gatimu Ng'andu Girls High with a mean score of 9.8046, the equivalent of B Plus. However, this was a drop from last year's 9.9596. The school was ranked tenth nationally, down from seventh in 2004.

Thika's Mangu High, a national school, was the third school in the region and 14th nationally with a mean score of 9.6341 or B Plus, down from 9.7179 in 2004.

Makueni's Precious Blood Kilungu Secondary was ranked 15th nationally, but was first in Eastern Province with a mean score of 9.63, an improvement from 9.3367 in 2004.

Nyeri High was seventeenth nationally (9.5714) while Alliance Girls, a national school, could only manage 20th position.

More national schools in the region were in for a shock with Loreto High Limuru managing a poor position 40 with a mean score of 8.8197 or B. The same was the case for Mary Hill of Thika at position 51 with a mean score of 8.5434 or B.

Limuru Girls High, another national school, was not lucky either. It was placed 56th with a mean score of 8.489.

Private school, Moi High School Kabarak, produced the best candidate nationally. Master Rotich James Kandie scored 85 out of the possible 96 points in the best eight subjects. The boy, the son of a civil engineer and a primary school teacher, hails from the undulating, but far-flung hills of Bartolimo, Baringo District.

The top girl in the country was Nderitu Wanjiku Mary of Bahati Girls in Nakuru, who also took the sixth position countrywide with 82.714. She was the only girl in the top ten category.

At the national level, the third slot went to Kianda School, which also topped the private schools category countrywide.

Precious Blood Riruta, was fourth, followed by Sunshine Secondary in Nairobi. Sunshine emerged second in the private schools category nationally. Despite the deaths of Starehe Boys Centre founding director, Dr Geoffrey Griffin and his deputy, Yusuf King'ala, last year, the school emerged number two nationally. Other schools in Central Kenya that made it to the top 100 charts were Kiambu's St Anne's, Lioki (22), Murang'a High (30) and Nyeri's private school St Mary's Boys.

Maragua's Njiiri's High, which has been dogged by poor performance in the recent past, bounced back to a respectable position 38 nationally and a mean score of 8.961.

Nyeri's Naromoru Girls took position 46, Kiambu High (47), South Tetu Girls (86) and Mahiga Girls' (87). But Kagumo High, once an academic giant, could only manage position 89.

Kirinyaga's Kabare Girls Secondary was number 55, while Nyandarua High was in 61, and a private school, Nyahururu Elite was 66th. Thika's St Francis Mangu took position 74.

In Embu, Nguviu Boys Secondary was ranked in position 43, and was second in Eastern Province while Kyeni Girls School took position 63.

Meru's Nkubu High was in position 45, Meru School (79), Materi Girls (82) and Chogoria Girls in 93rd position.

In Ukambani, Kitui's St Charles Lwanga Secondary was number 49.

However, the regions of upper Eastern - Isiolo, Marsabit and Moyale - did not have any of their schools in the top 100 categories. The same was the case in North Eastern.

Kandie, who topped the more than 260,000 candidates with 85 points, was followed by Ogutu Byron Wambogo of Alliance with 84.143 and Wanjala Sifuna, also of Alliance Boys, with 83 points.

Central Province took the lion's share of the top 100 students in KCSE with 27 slots, followed by Rift Valley and Nairobi with 21 each, Eastern 14 and Nyanza eight and Coast six. There was no candidate from North Eastern Province among the top 100. The top student in the province had 71.857.

Moi High School Kabarak had 20 students in the top 100 performers in the Rift Valley.

Other top 10 candidates in the examination were Matheka Duncan Mwangangi of Makueni Boys High (4) and Mutiso Herman Mutunga of Alliance High (5), Nderitu Wanjiku Mary of Bahati Girls in Nakuru (6), Kimani Maina Isaac of Mangu (7), Nalyanya Brian Matanda of Starehe Boys (8), Kitaka Edwin Njuguna of Alliance High (9) and Matheka Cyrus Wambua of Makueni Boys (10).

In the district schools' category, little known Ober Secondary led the pack with a mean score of 9.32 followed by Allidina Visram High with 9.24 and Nguviu Boys with a mean of 8.71.

In the private schools category, Sunshine Secondary with a mean score of 9.9 followed Kianda, which had a mean grade of 10.3. Moi Kabarak High scored a mean of 9.8 to emerge third in this category.

In a departure from the past, the Kenya National Examinations Council chairman, Prof Raphael Munavu, presented a diskette containing the results instead of the usual bulky box. The results of the best schools and candidates were also available in the Education ministry and Kenya Examination Council's websites immediately they were released. A total of 260,665 candidates sat for the examination in 4,257 schools compared to 22,676 candidates in 3,966 schools in 2004. This is an increase of 37,989 or 17.6 per cent.

The number of private candidates, including those in informal schools increased to 3,817 compared to 2, 349 in 2004, representing a 62.4 per cent increase.

There was a significant drop in cheating cases compared to 2004. Only 375 candidates cheated in the test compared to 1,739 in 2004, representing a 78 per cent drop.

The number of schools involved in irregularities last year also dropped from 107 to 73.

"While the development is most encouraging, we are convinced that this is the time to eliminate cheating in our examinations," Wekesa said.

Last year, the entire Kisii High School examination results were cancelled, causing outrage from local leaders, who blamed the problem on Government officials.

A total of 554 candidates scored straight 'A's in English, 2,122 in Kiswahili, 3,644 in Mathematics, 4,216 in Biology, 3,062 in Physics and 7,116 in Chemistry.

Education assistant minister, Dr Kilemi Mwiria and permanent secretary, Prof Karega Mutahi, said plans had been put in place to address gender disparities in performance.

North Eastern produced the least number of best performers. Only three candidates could join public universities if last year's entry point of 67 points for boys and 66 for girls was maintained.

Even with the admission crisis in the universities, the ministries put on a brave face, saying strategies were being put in place to raise enrollment in the institutions of higher learning.

However, Mwiria, who is in charge of higher education, gave a glimmer of hope when he announced that the ministry was working on a strategy to de-link university admissions from bed capacity.

More would be admitted to the institutions, as many would be day scholars like the current 25,000 parallel degree students.