By Ejike Anyaduba
The Divine Rays British School (DRBS), Obosi, Anambra state has achieved yet another remarkable feat with the release of the just concluded 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result organized by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). The school which is barely eight years old and sitting for its third UTME has ten of its students scoring 300 marks and above in the examination.
The ten, dubbed “Our Golden Eagles” by the school, are led by Kingsley Nzubechukwu Ogbogu with a belter performance of 353 marks, 18 short of the national highest overall scorer David Kikisoka Adogbo who scored 371 marks. Ogbogu who is among the highest scorers in the Southeast is closely followed by Anastasia Somtochukwu Ezekaka with 346 marks. Others are Christopher Ifeanyichukwu Okeoma 330, Nereus Nzubechukwu Agwunobi 321, Sixtus Chidiebere Nwoye 318, Henry Somtochukwu Okwuego 314, Bernard Chukwudi Chukwuemeka 308, Sylvia Mmesoma Nwali 305, John Mary Chiagozie Ibeabuchi 300 and Marvis Chijindu Lebechi 300.
As stated above this is the third time Divine Rays British School (DRBS) is sitting for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination. The first was in 2023 when the school announced its presence with an excellent performance in both the UTME and WAEC. What it achieved then placed the school on a pedestal where no other its age, whether in the state or elsewhere, is recorded to have equalled the feat, much less surpassing it. It bears repeating here that the singular performance was so impressive that its poster boy, currently a student of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, trounced every other competitor to emerge the highest overall scorer in his home state of Enugu. With a score of 347, 13 less than 360 marks, scored by the national highest overall scorer, he etched the name of Divine Rays British School in the hall of fame of performing schools in Nigeria.
Two years on, the school has yet to dip in academic excellence. Rather it has stepped up its game, quickly setting itself apart as the go-to-guy school – a place where well-rounded education is guaranteed. It has maintained a good run of academic excellence not only in posting high performance in examinations like the UTME/WAEC, but also in winning a plethora of awards in national and international competitions.
DRBS is the current champion in the 2025 Anambra State SMASE (Strengthening Mathematics and Science in Secondary Education) Africa- IDK Mathematics Competition and will be traveling to Thailand for the pre-World Mathematics Competition. The duo of Amanda Egbo and Kamsiyochukwu Anigbogu beat the other competitors to etch the name of DRBS in gold. However, before this time the school had participated and still participates in a number of competitions chief among which were the African Spelling B, CRUX Mathematics, Horn Entrepreneurship Competition, put together by Diamond Challenge of the University of Delaware, Dover, USA, Archbishop Valeria Okeke Science Competition (AVOSCO) and many others, and won. It has also maintained unbeaten record in some of these competitions while conquering new grounds in others, including sporting events.
Without adding bells and whistles, the exceptional academic performance and outstanding achievements of the Divine Rays British School is many and various, and are of the type only a foundation of diligence and hard work can birth. The school is said to be built on “a sacred space where academic excellence, personal growth, and spiritual formation come together”. But more than that, it is a school where love, respect and inclusivity is fostered with the students fully exposed to opportunities to reach their full potentials in life. It is a place where the necessary character formation and discipline required for progressive life journey is imparted with firmness and love.
The story of the academic excellence of the DRBS cannot be told without the mention of the director of the school Reverend Father Emmanuel Obimma, of the Holy Ghost Adoration Ministry Uke, a priest of uncanny abilities and abundant grace and ably managed by a faculty of teachers led by the thorough-going professional administrator Mrs. Stephanie Ozioma Ezeibeanu who knows where her work is and stays no nonsense. Mrs. Ezeibeanu is the pioneer principal of the DRBS whose office transcends mere administrative work to include spotting out students of unusual genius and grooming them accordingly.
It is important to state here that DRBS does not abide the run-of-the-mill type of academic system where students are regimented, and do not engage well in extracurricular activities. In DRBS, academic work is flexible and students are groomed to respond easily to areas where they have both the competence and comparative advantage. The reward system of the school is equally good as teachers who manifest hard work and uncommon artistry are often rewarded. Perhaps it is for this reason and more that no effort is spared in preparing the students for thorough academic work which exposes them to a number of international examinations like Cambridge -International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), Junior Checkpoint and A Levels among others.
The success of the DRBS can be said to derive from the combined efforts of the students, management staff and the directorate. The Golden Eagles, as the brilliant ten are called, would have accentuated the school position in the perking order with their prodigious performance, but it is believed to peak in the coming years. With a crack staff of teachers dutifully managed by the school’s seasoned administrator, the chance of achieving a lot more in future is high. DRBS is a school nurtured on the principles of hard work and discipline which ensures there grows no weed of indolence to choke its flowers of academic excellence. And the school has a vast untenanted plain of this flower of academic excellence yet to be fully harvested. With sustained effort at training and retaining of its staff in order to meet the changing academic times, DRBS is on a perch where further positions beckon with ease. Everything considered, the school’s big dream will be difficult to kill in the years following from now.
Ejike Anyaduba wrote from Abatete, Anambra State.
