All About Mangu High School

Mang’u High School is a Kenyan roman catholic boys boarding national school established in 1925. The school is located in Kiambu County along the Nairobi-Thika Highway six kilometers from Thika, Kenya. Mang’u High School is ranked among the top schools nationwide in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education and has many eminent alumni including the former president of Kenya H.E Mwai Kibaki , former vice president Moody Awori, the late John Michuki, Kipruto Arap kirwa among others.  Mang’u  High School sits on a 22 acres piece of land .

Mang’u High School Details

In 1939, Mang’u High School was moved to a new site at Mang’u Village on twenty-two acres of land and because of accessibility it became known as Mang’u High School.

However, the Marianist Brothers introduced an Aviation programme in Mang’u High School and there was an urgent need for expansion. Therefore, to create room for the Aviation programme, the Board of Governors decided to purchase a new site for the school. They acquired 214 acres six kilometres from Thika Town along the Thika-Nairobi Highway.

In 1972 the Marianist Brothers moved Mang’u High School to its current site. The school was to be put up in three phases. Mang’u high school was the first to introduce aviation as an examinable subject in the country

School Name – Mang’u High School

According to Bro. Ken Thompson who taught English for 15 years at Mang’u High School, “mang’u” is a Maasai word meaning “that’s not me you smell.” Bro. Ken said: “When the Maasai hunted lions in the tall grass, they would shout “mang’u, mang’u” to inform their fellow hunters of the situation!”The school is also known as “‘Dayton’” (although very few students are actually aware of this) because of the school’s association with University of Dayton, a Catholic university founded by the Society of Mary (the Marianists) in 1850 in Dayton, Ohio, United States.

History of Mang’u High School

Mang’u  High school was started at Kabaa by a dutch priest, Michael  Witte of Holy Ghost Fathers. The founder , Witte started a piloting class of four students secretly  since the government had not approved the project for a new school. The pioneers  of school were: Cyrillus Ojoo, Paul Njoroge, Stefan Kimani, Lukas Kibe.

In January 1930 Witte started the High School officially by ignoring the delaying tactics of the Government. 27 boys started the first class. At the end of 1930, the 4 pioneer students sat  for the Public Examination called Junior Secondary School Examination. All of them passed. In 1933 a few pupils attempted the Senior Secondary Examination. After that the school concentrated on Junior Secondary curriculum. The school location was moved from Kabaa to its current residence formerly Mang’u Mission in 1938 hence changing the school name from Kabaa school to Mang’u High School.

Alumni of Mang’u High School

Mang’u High School is a school that has made tremendous contribution to Kenya’s history. The school boasts of a high profile of many successful alumni among them politicians, lawyers, businessmen, clergymen, scientists, engineers, doctors and pilots. Among the high profile politicians who studied at Mang’u High School are President Mwai Kibaki who attained the maximum possible score, former Vice-President Moody Awori, Cabinet ministers George Saitoti who was also a former vice president, John Michuki who also met President Mwai Kibaki at Mang’u and is a former school captain. Other cabinet ministers are Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, Kipruto Arap Kirwa, Cyrus Jirongo and the late Tom Mboya who was one of Kenya’s principal leaders that agitated for independence plus other members of parliament. Other notable alumni include Cardinal Maurice Michael Otunga, Archbishop Ndingi Mwana Nzeki, Archbishop John Njenga who also met Mwai Kibaki and Moody Awori at Mang’u and says he taught Hon. Awori catechism. Others are Bishop Antony Muheria, Josphat Konzolo former director NSSF (National Social Security Fund) and Dr. Joshua Noreh who performed Kenya’s first Invitro-fertilization.In recent times the school has continued to produce great achievers, some of whom have been ranked in the top ten nationally in the KCSE exams. Past students have been admitted into top schools in the US, UK and Australia including Yale and Harvard.

Facilities at Mang’u High School

The first phase of construction was completed in 1972 and all the 253 students moved in. After that, very little has been done to complete the second phase and of course nothing for the third phase, yet the student population is already in the third phase.The school has got a swimming pool,fields which are to stardards,buses which enable transport to be efficient enough, a mordern library,a block of labolatories including aviation laboratory,a chapel , staff quaters ,a mordern staffroom and other facilities.

Mang’u High School Admission

Mang’u High School is very competitive to join and only the students that perform best in Kenya certificate of primary education are enrolled to the school. Once offered admission the students must submit a letter  of introduction from  either their  area chief, pastor or priest in charge of  their parish/mission and a letter from their primary school headmaster. This is to ensure that only the highly disciplined students are admitted to maintain high levels of discipline in the school.

Other than excelling academically the school is also known for its great performance in co-curricular activities, like music festivals, drama festivals and sports.