Top 100 High/Secondary Schools In Africa


There has been a marked rise of very good secondary schools all over the continent. Whilst government schools within African countries started off the best, following independence, much has changed.



For the most part, private schools (we consider missionary school as private) outperform government schools. In addition, international schools have taken Africa by storm. Below is the list of 100 best secondary schools.

1.  Kings’ College Lagos Nigeria
2.  Pretoria Boys High School South Africa
3.  Wynberg Boys High School South Africa
4.  Lycée Lamine Guèye Senegal
5.  Mfantsipim School Ghana
6.  Chisipite Senior School Zimbabwe
7.  Lycée Victor Hugo Morocco
8.  Wesley Girls High School Ghana
9.  Townsend High School Zimbabwe
10.  St. Paul’s College Namibia
11.  Wynberg Girls’ High School South Africa
12. International School Moshi Tanzania
13.  Victoria Park High School South Africa
14.  St.Gregory’s College Nigeria
15.  Port Shepstone High School South Africa
16.  Ghana International School Ghana
17.  Lycee Francais du Caire Egypt
18.  Clapham High School South Africa
19.  Kamuzu Academy Malawi
20.  Hilton College South Africa
21.  Grey High School South Africa
22.  Arundel School Zimbabwe
23.  Pinetown Boys’ High School South Africa
24.  Lycée Français de Tananarive Madagascar
25.  Nyeri High School Kenya
26.  Gateway High School Zimbabwe
27.  International School of Kenya Kenya
28.  Selborne College South Africa
29.  Lycée Lyautey Morocco
30.  Lenana School Kenya
31.  St Alban’s College South Africa
32.  École Normale Supérieure Guinea
33.  Jeppe High School for Boys South Africa
34.  Muir College South Africa
35.  Lycée Faidherbe Senegal
36.  International School of Tanganyika Tanzania
37.  Rainbow International School Uganda
38.  Namilyango College Uganda
39.  Roedean School South Africa
40.  Michaelhouse School South Africa
41.  Lycée Blaise Diagne Senegal
42.  Settlers High School South Africa
43.  Hillcrest School Jos Nigeria
44.  Starehe Boys’ Centre Kenya
45.  St John’s College Houghton South Africa
46.  American International School of Johannesburg South Africa
47.  Glenwood High School South Africa
48.  Kearsney College South Africa
49.  Adisadel College Ghana
50.  Benoni High School South Africa
51.  Harare International School Zimbabwe
52.  Lycée La Fontaine Niger
53.  Holy Child School Ghana
54.  Prince Edward School Zimbabwe
55.  South African College School South Africa
56.  Bingham Academy Ethiopia
57.  Alexander Sinton High School South Africa
58.  Hillcrest Secondary School Kenya
59.  Lycée Lyautey de Casablanca Morocco
60.  Rift Valley Academy Kenya
61.  Le Collège Mermoz Ivory Coast
62.  St. George’s College Zimbabwe
63.  Christ The King College Onitsha Nigeria
64.  Lycée Français Liberté Mali
65.  Rondebosch Boys’ High School South Africa
66.  Durban High School South Africa
67.  Alexandra High School South Africa
68.  Methodist Boys High School Sierra Leone
69.  Strathmore School Kenya
70.  Christian Brothers’ College Bulawayo Zimbabwe
71.  Gayaza High School Uganda
72.  Methodist Girls High School Sierra Leone
73.  Grey College South Africa
74.  St. Andrew’s High School Malawi
75.  Lycée Guebre Mariam Ethiopia
76.  St. Patrick School Zimbabwe
77.  Paarl Boys’ High School South Africa
78.  Graeme College South Africa
79.  St Mary’s Diocesan School for Girls South Africa
80.  Accra Academy Ghana
81.  Wykeham Collegiate Independent School for Girls South Africa
82.  Alliance High School Kenya
83.  Lycée Moulay Youssef Morocco
84.  Tafari Makonnen School Ethiopia
85.  Mauritius College of the Air Mauritius
86.  Mount Pleasant High School Zimbabwe
87.  Kingswood College South Africa
88.  Wheelus High School Libya
89.  King Edward VII School South Africa
90.  Hamilton High School Zimbabwe
91.  Royal College Port Louis Mauritius
92.  St Andrew`s College South Africa
93.  Government College Umuahia Nigeria
94.  Maritzburg College South Africa
95.  Westville Boys’ High School South Africa
96.  Kutama College Zimbabwe
97.  Waddilove High School Zimbabwe
98.  Parktown Boys’ High School South Africa
99.  Lincoln International School Uganda
100.  St. James High School Zimbabwe

The Raking Methodology:

Expectedly the rankings of the “100 Best Secondary Schools in Africa” were met with displeasure from most of the people who left their comments on the article. Most people emailed the editor regarding the methodology that was used in compiling the list.

I should state here that ranking high schools from different countries across the continent is always going to be difficult as different countries follow different curriculums and take part in completely different regional assessments.

The author selected the list of schools that have historical prominence at a national and regional level. That is the reason most schools that featured on the list are also quite old, some started well before their corresponding countries became independent. This is especially the case for most public secondary/high schools. Here it is important to note that not all schools take part in regional assessments. Yet, not a single school was eliminated for lack of regional accomplishments. Schools that were very good at a national level, yet lacked regional presence were also considered given that they did not have any regional assessments to partake.

The author then went over the list of a few hundred schools selecting the schools that continued to lead at a national and regional level especially in the past few years when there has been national and regional rankings for secondary/high schools. It is also important to state that countries have different rakings and they rank different criteria which made it difficult to harmonize the list.

In addition to how the different schools have performed at a national level, schools whose students win prestigious scholarships and fellowships at a national and international level earned points above those that did not. On this, some schools had an advantage over others in that the data was readily available on their own websites or their Wikipedia pages. International schools are a case in point.

And success of individuals did not translate into success of the school that that particular individual attended. For instance, Kofi Annan was not enough to have Mfantsipim School (Ghana) on the list. Performance of a school is much more than what one individual had done. Mfantsipim School (Ghana) has done much more than nurturing a UN Secretary General.

The article mentioned, “Most of these schools are old, with tremendous wealth of history. The performance of such schools did take consistency into consideration to eliminate the quick rise and quick fall cases. In addition, great schools such as the African Leadership Academy have yet to prove themselves over years. Only time will tell whether they will remain at the highest level they are at.”
Some readers may disagree with the way we construct our rankings methodology. Let us know if we missed an important component below in comments.

While we should always celebrate success of private enterprise and involvement of the private sector in education, it is important to ask the question; “Is the high performance of private schools at the cost of public schools?” This is an important question since the majority of the continent lack the means to pay for the skyrocketing costs of private institutions and choose instead to rely on public schools notwithstanding the fact that each African deserves good quality education. While I do not believe that a cap on secondary school fees will help, I stand convinced that African governments need to spend more on secondary school education

Source: AfricaNews.Com


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