By Arnold Ageta
It is Friday morning at Nyaikuro SDA High School as one parent after another arrives at the school for the 50th anniversary celebrations.
Some arrive in cars, while others arrive on foot, all lit with happiness knowing the great moments ahead of them.
Smartly dressed students usher them in at the entrance as teachers in blue trousers/skirts and white blouses/shirts receive them at the tents.
Everyone looks younger than their age, making it hard to differentiate students from teachers because they wore similar uniforms.
The decoration at the entrance to the celebration field and the tents matches the dress code, depicting the blend of the school’s unity and corporate colors.
As you enter the field, sweet local entertainment fills the air, drawing you into the dance if you understand the modern traditional songs blended with both modern and traditional rhythms.
The traditional entertainers, dressed in traditional clothing and playing the obokano (a Kisii traditional 8-stringed instrument), looked mighty as The Mighty Nyaikuro.
At intervals, they entertained and put smiles on the faces of parents, teachers, students, and guests with their funny words and moves.
The school, established in 1974 by the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church, lies in the green and leafy Nyaikuro village along the Kericho-Nyamira-Kisii highway.
Since its inception, the school has been a mixed boarding school under the sponsorship of the SDA church.
According to the school principal, Mr. Job Rasugu, as they celebrate 50 years of academic excellence, the school has grown from a district school to its current extra-county school status with a population of 1,402 students.
“The expansion of the school has exerted a lot of pressure on the physical infrastructure and human resources,” lamented Mr. Rasugu.
He explained that the school needs more classrooms and offices to facilitate the smooth running of school programs.
“The student population has come with a myriad of challenges,” the principal noted. “Due to a lack of enough classrooms, we were forced to convert the staffroom and some departmental offices into classrooms.” This has led to a lack of working space for teachers to prepare lessons, eat, and receive administrative briefs.
Despite these challenges, the school has consistently excelled academically. Records seen by Tidal Wave News indicate that the High School’s mean score increased from 4.5 in 2019 to 8.7 in 2022.
Unfortunately, in 2023, the mean dropped to 7.7, but with a total of 165 direct entries to university.
“I want to encourage the class of 2024 to remain focused and work towards achieving their target of 8.0,” said Rasugu. “It is our sincere prayer that with the strategies we have put in place and the guidance from our God, we will meet our target.”
He called upon all stakeholders and well-wishers to join the school in its mission to improve both infrastructure and academics.
Representing County TSC and the Ministry of Education, Mr. Michael Fuaya observed that 52 percent (86) of the students of the 2023 class who passed are going to join teaching.
He challenged the class of 2024 to venture into other modern courses such as mechatronics, geospatial engineering, forensic science, computer security, and microprocessor engineering.
“When you (class of 2023) go out, we want you to be good ambassadors of Nyaikuro High School so that you put this school on the map,” Fuaya counseled them.
He asked teachers to be keen on the new CBC system that will soon join them because young learners are trained to question.
“You might not be able to understand them easily if you have not grasped CBC skills,” he challenged them.
Mr. Fuaya also asked parents to continue to support the school so that it grows and becomes the best, not only in Nyamira but in the country as well.
On the issue of social media, he advised students to be on Facebook but to face their books to pass all subjects.
“We know that you are on Instagram, but we want you to be instant with God so that your spiritual life is blessed. We know that you are on Telegram, but we want you to tell us what your problem is so that we can help you grow. We know that you are on WhatsApp talking about your issues, but we want you to talk to your teachers and parents so that we know what is up.”
Professor Benard Nyatuka, Dean of the School of Education and Human Resource Development at Kisii University, who represented the Vice Chancellor, Professor Nathan Ogechi, noted that Nyaikuro, despite being a mixed school, is doing very well.
“As you are aware, we have few mixed boarding schools, and this one remains one of the performing schools,” he noted. “I know a lot of effort has been put in by teachers, students, and parents to achieve the academic excellence we are celebrating today.”
He further said that these efforts have made the school an academic powerhouse in Nyamira County, maintaining high standards.
“When you talk of a good school, you compare the mean scores over the years, and I can tell you that this school has been consistent in all the years,” he observed.
Prof. Nyatuka was delighted that 20 students who passed from Nyaikuro High School are going to join Kisii University.
He welcomed the 20 students to the university, where the majority of them are going to join his School of Education.
“As you join universities, please be self-disciplined because there are no bells; you will have to take care of yourself,” he advised them.
During the celebrations, top students from the class of 2023 were awarded suitcases in preparation for their admission into university later this year.
Teachers were also awarded duvets, and the top three students from form 1 to form 4 received assorted prizes to encourage them to work even harder.
The ceremony ended with the cutting of a cake and the inauguration of the 50th-anniversary monument to mark the 50 years the school has been running.
