Refugees top 2022 KCSE exams in North Eastern
From left: Abdikadir Hussein Mohamed, Abdullahi Hassan and Abdifatah Aden Issack.
Four refugees who sat their 2022 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams at Gedi Secondary School in Dadaab Refugee Complex have emerged among the top candidates in North Eastern Region.
Abdikadir Hussein Mohamed managed an A minus of 77 points to emerge the best candidate in the North Eastern Region.
He was followed by Abdullahi Hassan and Abdifatah Aden Issack with an A- minus of 75 points, while Abdisamad Mohamed Aden scored an A minus of 74 points. He was followed by Yasmin Abdirashid Abdi with a B plus of 72 points
The four described their good performance as a ‘miracle’ considering the challenges they faced.
“I came to Dadaab with my mother in 2019 and registered as a student at Gedi Secondary School. It has been a difficult journey because we have lacked teachers and learning materials but finally I have made it,” Hussein said.
He added, “My family was forced out of Somalia after Al-Shabaab militants destroyed our home. So we had to seek refuge at the Dadaab refugee camp."
Dadaab hosts thousands of refugees from Somalia.
Life has not been the same for thousands of refugees after the national government threatened to close the camp in March 2021.
The state then described the camp as a recruiting ground for Al-Shabaab terrorists and a base for launching violent attacks in Kenya.
Despite the uncertainty facing thousands of refugees, hundreds of students at the camp registered for KCSE examinations. When Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu announced the KCSE results on Friday, Gedi Secondary School posted impressive results.
Another 33 candidates at Gedi Secondary school scored B plus grade while 60 others scored B plain. Eighty-two candidates scored B minus while 75 candidates scored C plus grade. Forty candidates managed C plain, while 16 had C minus. Six candidates managed a D plus while three scored D plain. The school posted a mean score of B- minus.
Registered in 2017, the school started with only 80 students.
Mr Feisal Gedi, the school's founder and principal, said despite the disruption of the academic calendar by the Covid-19 pandemic, the school still managed to post good results.
“Despite being in the middle of the Dadaab Refugee Camp, Gedi Secondary School has proved its dedication to providing quality education to learners from this disadvantaged zone,” Mr Gedi said.
He said the school now stands among a few institutions that send hundreds of students to different universities.
