GAKENKE - The Director of Groupe Scolaire de Janja-St Jerome, the best A-level secondary school in last year’s national examinations, has revealed the secret behind their success and vowed to keep ‘setting the standards.’ 

Fr. Alphonse Twizerimana, said that their secret was discipline among students, the spirit of competition and regular assessment. 

Located in Gakenke district, about 100km from Kigali City, the school emerged for the first time, the best performer with at least 76 students getting Grand Distinctions, 23 Distinctions, with the last student passing with 38 out of 60.

Speaking to The New Times, Fr. Twizerimana said they had regular assessment and evaluation of staff to ensure that teachers produced the best in their subjects. 

"Performance is a result of team spirit and competition, but it required me to check, all areas (departments) to ensure that everything is well coordinated,’’ he said.

His school, he added, introduced a programme of recognising and awarding the best performing students in senior six in order to promote competitiveness among students. 

Claudine Mukamusoni, 20, one of the best students in the national exams, who scored ‘A’ in all the five subjects, attributed her success to commitment and prayer. 

"I concentrated both in class and outside. In addition, the teachers and the school management helped to encourage me,’’ Mukamusoni said.

She added that the performance was her best ever, having been among the best ten students in past performances at school. 

"I followed teachers’ explanations, it’s not about cramming, but understanding, there was nothing new,’ she added. "I thank God for my success, I put in a lot of efforts; I struggled to get school fees.”

Having lost her father in 1998, Mukamusoni and her siblings were brought up by their mother who, she says, struggled to raise her tuition which sometimes would affect her concentration in class.

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