When Chief Principal Rose stepped into Goibei Girls High School in Vihiga County four years ago on delocalisation from the leading Sing’ore Girls in Elgeyo Marakwet she found nothing but a rusty school entrance with dilapidated structures, no administration block, a very low student population, no advanced security measures for the students among so many sad stories.
With a rich performance history coupled with her vision for the girl child, the Chief Principal settled immediately and embarked on making the PAG-sponsored school match the stature of her previous station.
“I am always driven by the attitude that is always at 100 per cent. For a positive attitude, I had my first staff meeting with the teaching staff a week after landing and listened to them keenly. I shared with them the need to revamp the academic programmes in the school and more so improve the welfare of the students and that of the teachers,” Mrs Koech said.
She added, “I knew that if I want the school to be somewhere, we have to set proper measures which we all agreed and everything fell in shape as you cannot realise the much-needed production if the environment behind isn’t that good.”
She highlighted that the environment and the school are just amazing as within a very short time, they have a modern gate, installed closed circuit televisions (CCTV) to enhance security, constructed a modern administration block, built reasonable new classes and boasted teacher morale.
With all this, the performance of the school has gradually been improving and in the last year’s KCSE exams, over 502 students scored above the minimum university entry grade of C+ and above something that has never happened in the history of the school.
Buoyed by the impressive performance, the school has even set a higher mean target for the 2025 candidate class where the school is focused on 100 per cent transition something that has rattled the locals who now want to come and lead the school.
Hamisi area Member of Parliament holds the chief Principal in high regard but a few disgruntled forces have been fighting the Chief Principal to leave the school so that locals can take over from her.
According to Gimose, Madam Principal is the most effective administrator she knows following her impressive history in academics and development and he loves and supports what she is doing at Goibei.
A week ago, a sponsored article was published to taint the image of the chief Principal with very malicious allegations yet the Principal is doing just fine and her relationship with the teachers is one of the best and the students celebrate her daily.
“I have a very cordial working relationship with the teaching staff and at no time have I ever stepped on anyone’s toes. I know my lane and they know what I expect from them and that is why we can realise positive results in academics and co-curricular activities,” said Madam Koech.
She said she was baffled by the sentiments of embezzlement of school funds yet school books of accounts are always audited and have always been given a clean bill of health.
With Rose Koech still at the helm of Goibei Girls, the school is going to remain at the helm of academics in Vihiga and the Western region at large.
