By Angatia Leonard 
St. Henry’s Saisi Wabuge Girls Secondary School is on an upward trajectory to improve in academics, student population and infrastructural development.
Established in 2014, the school is registered as a sub-county day and boarding school in Likuyani sub-county, Kakamega county.
In 2024 KCSE, the school recorded a positive deviation of 0.91 and has set a target of 5.0 in 2025 KCSE.
Principal Dr. Catherine Mise Andola, who was transferred from Ejinja Secondary School a year ago, revealed that the school has registered 35 candidates for this year’s exams. All the candidates are boarders, a policy the school put in place to ensure learners maximize study time through extra-learning/revisions in the mornings and evenings.
The principal revealed that the teachers have almost completed the syllabus to allow candidates have ample time for revision and consultation.
“Since the entry behaviour is below average, teachers have to work extra-hard to ensure students achieve quality grades. They have also created foster families where each teacher is assigned 10 students and mandated to monitor their learning,” she revealed.
Dr. Andola said that the healthy competition amongst students and teachers is the driving force for the academic growth. The best performing students are awarded learning materials and money allotments while teachers whose subjects do well are given cash rewards and free meals to all teachers during extra-learning time to motivate them.
She revealed that the students sit for joint exams with other schools in the county and partners with neighbouring schools for academic symposia and contests.
The dedicated mother figure and teacher of Geography and History leads by example by teaching her subjects and compensating for lost time during her extra time. She has an open door policy that allows for constant consultation, ensuring that the school is successful in its endeavours.
As a result of the able leadership of the principal, the school has restored parity even among parents from humble backgrounds, who now have faith in the school’s a tremendous growth.
Dr. Andola noted that the school’s biggest challenge at the moment is fee payment as most students come from humble backgrounds and stay with guardians who cannot even pay Ksh100.
The school doesn’t tolerate absenteeism thus it doesn’t send students home due to unpaid fee arrears. Instead, the school contacts parents reminding them to pay fees in installments to reduce huge arrears. It also allows them to pay fees in kind. For accountability purposes, fee payment is done through paybills and not cash. Parents are encouraged
“We have had to accept harvested foodstuff and anything tangible as fee payment in kind,” she explained, further clarifying that the school engages in maize, beans, vegetables and animal farming and sells some of its produce for survival.
Dr. Andola lamented that the school has huge debt arrears, a situation that has led creditors to shun lending them. Due to the school’s low student population, it receives very little money in terms of capitation from the Ministry of Education. Worse still, some students’ names always miss in the NEMIS portal, meaning their funds are disbursed to other schools.
The Catholic Diocese of Kakamega sponsored school has a student population of 112. It is registered as a single stream school and has 12 TSC teachers and one employed on BoM terms.
The principal noted that the school has 13 acres of land and enough tuition classes to accommodate a higher student population. It also has enough space for expansion.
She expressed heartfelt gratitude to the area MP Innocent Mugabe, who is doing well in supporting the education of students through bursaries and CDF. She requested him to erect a perimeter wall to ensure maximum security of students who mostly fall prey to predators.
She further appealed to well-wishers to help them acquire a reliable solar as a move toward saving part of the huge bills being paid to KPLC.
Deputy Principal Jane Bunyasi Makokha, who is in charge of both administration and academics, teaches History and CRE and has helped streamline students’ discipline at the school.
Together with the principal and the BoM led by the outgoing chair Dr. Aleke Dondo, she has ensured students welfare is met.
The school does well in co-curricular activities especially netball, volleyball and athletics to which they go beyond sub-county level.
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Joy Christine
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