Mang’u started in 1925 at Kabaa, in present-day Machakos County, where Dutch Holy Ghost Father Michael Witte ran a training school for catechists; the high school class formally opened in January 1930. It moved to Mang’u in 1940 as Holy Ghost College Mang’u, and to its present site on the Nairobi–Thika highway, about six kilometres from Thika town, in 1972. In 1951 it became the first African school in East Africa to offer a full physics, chemistry and biology course, and it later pioneered Aviation Technology as an exam subject. It is sponsored by the Catholic Church, and its motto is “Jishinde Ushinde”, conquer yourself to conquer. Former students include Mwai Kibaki and Tom Mboya.
Results, Campus and Alumni
In KCSE 2025, Mang’u entered 682 candidates, who scored 92 As and 178 A-minuses for a mean of 9.842 (B+); 655 (96%) got C+ or better, as reported by Education News Hub. People Daily reported that the school sits on a 209-acre campus but has about 2,800 students and a shortage of classrooms. That is worth knowing if class size matters to you.
Mang’u’s aviation programme was started in 1961 by the Marianist Brothers and was the only one in a Kenyan high school until 2002. Kenya Airways later equipped two computer laboratories, one of them for Aviation Technology. The school opened on 19 January 1925 with 35 students, and its teams are known as the Desert Warriors, according to the school’s official history page.
Education News, writing for the school’s centenary, notes that in 1960 Mang’u was one of four schools allowed to offer A-levels to Africans, and that its A-level rights were passed to Opus Dei to start Strathmore College. The Marianist Brothers who ran the school from 1960 introduced technical courses such as aviation and radio transmission, and French and basketball. Old boys named in the same piece include Mwai Kibaki, Tom Mboya, Cardinal Maurice Otunga, Moody Awori, George Saitoti, John Michuki and publisher Hilary Ng’weno.
Mang’u High School on the Ministry of Education List
The Ministry’s senior schools list (June 2025) places Mang’u High School in cluster C1 (national), as a boys’ boarding school in Juja sub-county, Kiambu County, KNEC code 11200003. Kiambu has 15 C1 schools in total, and this is the only one in Juja. Other C1 boys’ schools in Kiambu: Kiambu High School, Alliance High School, Thika High School.
Mang’u High School Fees 2026
The cap set by Gazette Notice 1449 (February 2026) is KSh 53,554 or KSh 40,535 a year, depending on the school’s earlier approval. More on senior school fees.
Choosing Mang’u High School for Grade 10
Rank it alongside safer C2 to C4 options, and ask which pathways and subject combinations it offers. Useful: pathways, the KJSEA grade calculator, and all Kiambu schools.
Preparing for KJSEA? See our KJSEA revision guide.
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