Plight of bright but poor Kenyan pupils
Catherine Bosibori
Catherine is not your typical village girl. She was the top female pupil in West Pokot County in last year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) after garnering 398 marks.
She beat 116 pupils who sat KCPE at Ortum Girls Boarding School in Pokot Central District.
Her family moved into Geta Farm in Trans Nzoia from Kisii County in trauma after her mother Rudia was murdered by robbers as she watched.
Three years later, they were uprooted from the farm at the height of 2007/08 post election violence and had to seek refuge in Kimumu Estate, Eldoret.
Something else preoccupies her mind: “I worked extremely hard but now my future looks bleak unless something happens soon,” she says expressing fears over her future at Alliance Girls High School.
Catherine, who aspires to be a nutritional officer, requires at least Sh60,000 as first term fees.
Mr Momanyi, Catherine’s father who is a subordinate staff at Eldoret Library, said a Good Samaritan offered to pay about Sh10, 000 for the first term.
“My girl reported and is at the school but we are not sure about subsequent terms. This is a golden opportunity for my daughter to brighten her future.
“But I fear this chance might go with the wind if I don’t raise enough money for her education,” said the father of seven.
“The only thing that can pull my family out of these tribulations is for my children to get education and that is my goal as long as I live,” said Mr Momanyi.
— By Samuel Koech
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Charles Kamotho
Charles Kamotho was a hardworking and focused pupil in the Rift Valley before the 2007/2008 post-election violence rocked the peace he knew.
But even the strife that saw him uprooted from the home he had known since he was a child could not extinguish his fire for success.
After gaining admission at Kirigu Primary School in Nairobi’s Dagoretti area, he picked up the pieces and rededicated himself to hard work.
When the 2011 KCPE results were released he had done his school and family proud by scoring 354 marks out of the possible 500.
But his former head teacher, Mr Lawrence King’ori, is now a worried man.
He says the whereabouts of his star pupil are not known and he fears he is wasting away in Nakuru where he, his three siblings and grandmother moved back to early this month.
“He was admitted to Jamhuri High School but could not raise the fees required. Everyone hoped Charles would get a promised Equity Bank sponsorship,” said Mr King’ori.
But he missed out because two other pupils from the same school benefitted.
“He was our head boy and a very disciplined pupil. Something should be done to trace and help him,” said Mr King’ori.
The head teacher says during the last months of his stay in school, he noticed that Charles was disturbed and he twice sent for his mother.
“She was inebriated and we could not speak constructively about how to help her son,” he said. Charles also failed to get the CDF bursary.
— By Julius Sigei
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Happiness Akoth
The joy is long gone a month after the admission deadline. These days, 14-year-old Happiness cries day and night, praying for the day she can join Form One.
“I was supposed to report to Chogoria Girls’ School on February 2, but I have not lost hope yet,” Happiness says as she holds back tears this week.
The second, and last born, of single mother Rose Ogonji attended Rongo Success School in Migori County.
“My school fees was paid by the school’s management and I gave education my all.”
Indeed her secondary school choices included Alliance Girls’, Moi Girls’, Eldoret and Kenya High.
Her mother says she cannot pay Sh41,321 required as school fees for the first term, out of which Sh 9,775 would cater for her uniforms.
“She also needs an approximate of Sh14,000 to buy books required for her studies,” Ms Ogonji says during a visit to her home in Kopare, Chemelil.
Ms Ogonji is a casual worker in sugarcane plantations which have recently witnessed communal violence, leading to work stoppages.
She is currently working at a nearby nursery school as a children attendant.
“The recent clashes displaced us and we stayed at Kopare Shopping centre for close to two weeks. Even now, the situation is not stable and most children are not in school,” says Ms Ogonji.
Happiness’ sister, Seraphina Nyamoita, is a form three student at Ng’iya Girls High School and has not paid fees amounting to Sh52,000.
For now, Happiness says she will stay at home until her mother finds a way of taking her to school.
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Clinton Otieno
“Mum now I know why I have been hearing news of candidates committing suicide, if I can’t join form one then I have no business living”.
Those were the shocking news that last year’s KCPE top boy in Alupe Primary school, Busia County told his mother soon after she confessed that Form One could be a pipe dream.
Since then her mother Caroline Akumu has been forced to keep vigil on her son all the time fearing that he may fulfill his desire to die!
When he received an official letter inviting him to join Kagumo High School in Nyeri County early last month Clinton Otieno was excited.
But he wonders whether this dream will materialise owing to the poverty in his home.
As the deadline given for Form One students to report to school approached Clinton’s fears were confirmed when his mother showed no signs of taking him to Kagumo.
His school headmaster Titus Ocholla described him as a bright boy who could have performed better than the 351 marks he scored.
“His mother, a charcoal seller, literally lives from hand to mouth, but the boy put all these tribulations behind him to return good results which saw him called to join Kagumo High”, says Mr Ocholla.
Now Kagumo High is out of question for Clinton who had hoped that his secondary school education would help him fight the poverty that has bedeviled his family.
Clinton’s mother has tried to enroll him in a day school but by the time she spoke to Nation on Wednesday, she was yet to raise enough fees.
— By Bob Odalo
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Mary Wairimu
Mary Wairimu would like to become a neurosurgeon. But that will wait because despite having scored an impressive 348 marks she could not join a secondary school.
She failed to raise Sh40, 000 required to join Mumbi Girls School in Murang’a where she had been admitted to.
Instead, the second born in a single family was forced to repeat class eight at Back to Glory Achievers’ Primary School at Kabiria in the outskirts of Nairobi.
“I wanted to join Alliance Girls High School but I was always disrupted in school and couldn’t concentrate. My mother can’t pay rent regularly and we are often kicked out,” she says in an interview.
“My mother often asked me what I was working hard for yet I knew there was no money to take me to secondary school. That was especially when she was tipsy,” she said amid sobs.
Her elder sister, Wanjiru, who is in Form Three at Ngandu Girls in Nyeri was also home this week having been sent away for fees.
Riruta Satellite Primary school teachers tried to raise funds for Wairimu, but according to the head teacher, Ms Agnes Muchiri, Wairimu’s mother discouraged them.
“Teachers had offered to top up what her aunt had contributed. Others had pledged to buy the personal effects, but her mother asked: even if you contribute for the first term what about the others?”
Mr King’ori Nderitu, a director of Back to Glory achievers said they were helping the girl as they were not charging her any fee. “We did the same for her elder sister who scored 375 marks here.”
— By Julius Sigei
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Francis & Briton Katana
Four months after sitting his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exam, Francis Kitsao Katana has lost hope of furthering his education due to high poverty levels.
His has been a life full of struggles as he sought various means to see himself through primary school, turning to manual jobs time and again just to raise money for educational projects— including examinations.
“There were times when my elder brother and I would miss school for a week or so just to take time off to make brooms and roof thatching from palm leaves in order to raise examination fees,” said 18-year-old told the Nation.
The amount he was required to at that time was Sh50 for pre-national examination and Sh520 for KCPE.
With peasant farmers for parents and younger siblings to be educated, Francis and his elder brother, Briton Katana, have no dreams beyond being herds boys for their family goats.
This is despite the two having obtaining 342 and 337 marks in KCPE ,respectively, and each having received admission letters to Mariakani Secondary School.
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Anastasia Chelang’at
Anastasia Chelang’at is the hope of her family. The last born in a family of eight, she is the only one who has stepped in a secondary school.
But Ngiito Secondary School, a day school on the edge of Maasai Mara Game Reserve was not her choice.
The former pupil of Emorijoi Primary School scored 359 marks in last year’s KCPE exams becoming the best girl in the school and was subsequently admitted to Moi Forces Academy, Lanet, a national school.
“I really wanted to join my dream school where I hoped to excel and pursue medicine. I all the same thank the principal, Mr Joseah Sigei, for accepting me in this school and I hope to do my best,” Anastasia told Saturday Nation in an interview.
But the daughter of a single mother, who is a casual labourer, could not raise the Sh37,000 fees required and additional Sh9,000 for the purchase of the school bus.
Besides this, as a new student she was required to take with them a long list of requirements and personal effects which would have cost her a fortune.
Anastasia finally opted for to join Ngiito Secondary, a neighbouring day school where her stay is not guaranteed as she has not paid fees.
Mr Sigei says he admitted the child on humanitarian grounds as she only paid Sh2,000 out of the required Sh22, 000 and did not have personal requirements including school uniform.
“When I tried to send her back, the mother broke down in tears and pleaded with me to let her learn,” said Mr Sigei adding that what gave him heart is that three of the students who attained university entry grades in last year’s KCSE came from poor backgrounds.
-byJulius Sigei
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Oscar Macharia
Oscar Macharia, a former pupil of Kirimunge Public Primary School in Kirinyaga, was all smiles when the KCPE results were announced by Education Minister Sam Ongeri.
He had scored 353 marks and qualified to join Form One. An admission letter soon followed from Karumadi Secondary, a provincial school.
That, however, was also the beginning of his nightmare as his poor parents were unable to raise the required fees.
Since then, the 14-year-old boy has been at home without any hope of joining the school of his choice.
“I’m now a desperate person because my parents are poor and do not have money to educate me,” he told the Nation in a telephone interview.
Master Macharia said all his colleagues who hail from Kanyeki-ini area had joined Form One leaving him at home.
“I feel lonely and frustrated and I appeal to well-wishers to come and assist me go on with education,” he said.
The boy’s father, Mr Benjamin Mwangi, said his son was one of the best candidates in their school in the last year’s KCPE.
“He is a bright boy who always topped in his class but there is nothing I can do about it,” he said.
Mr Mwangi said he had other children who were in day schools and who kept on being expelled due to lack of school fees. He said his son could be wasted away if he fails to get a sponsor.
Although Mr Mwangi had applied for a bursary from the Kirinyaga Central CDF committee, his son’s name was not among the list of beneficiaries, closing the only window of opportunity.
-By George Munene
