GARISSA, Kenya, Jan 21 – Four candidates registered as refugees and who sat their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) at Gedi Secondary School in Dadaab Refugee Complex have emerged the best in the North Eastern Region.
The four described the good performance as a miracle after they faced challenges in their quest to quench their academic thirst.
“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,” Abdikadir Hussein Mohamed said.
Mohamed added, “My family and I were among the people who were forced out of the country after our home was destroyed by Alshabaab militants. So we had to seek refuge at the Dadaab refugee camp”.
Dadaab in Garissa County is known for the tough life and a refugee camp that hosts thousands of Somali nationals who have fled their home country for various reasons, including war.
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 the refugees, hundreds of students hosted at the camp registered for the national examinations and when the results were announced on Friday, Gedi Secondary School posted an impressive score.
Abdikadir Hussein Mohamed managed a mean grade of A minus of 77 points, emerging the best candidate in the North Eastern Region.
He was closely followed by Abdullahi Hassan and Abdifatah Aden Issack with A minus of 75 points.
Abdisamad Mohamed Aden scored an A minus of 74 points closely followed by Yasmin Abdirashid Abdi with a B plus of 73 points
33 candidates at Gedi Secondary school scored B plus grade while sixty others scored B plain.
82 candidates scored B minus while 75 candidates scored C plus grade. 40 managed C plain while 16 candidates scored a C minus grade.
Six candidates managed a D plus grade and three scored a D plain
The school posted a mean grade of B minus 8 points.
Registered in 2017, the school started with only 80 students, who have now flown its flag high with good performance in the past three years.
Mr Feisal Gedi, the school’s founder and principal, said that despite disruption of the academic calendar by the Covid-19 pandemic, the school still managed to post impressive results.
In the 2021 KCSE results, the school produced the best candidate in the North Eastern Region. Abdikadir Salat Mohamed, from the Ifo refugee camp, emerged the best candidate in the North Eastern region after scoring an A minus of 79 points.
His parents settled at the camp after fleeing from a war-torn Somalia and Mohamed says the place is home for him.
“Despite being in the middle of the Dadaab Refugee Camp, Gedi Secondary School yet again expressed its dedication to provide quality education to learners from this disadvantaged zone,” Mr Gedi said.
He said the school now stands among a few institutions that sends hundreds of students to different universities in the world.
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