‘My nail polish comes before exams’

The man would rather drop out of school than remove polish from his finger-nails.

Man because the Form Four candidate from Othaya in Nyeri who has declined to sit the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exams, is 21 years old.

Mr James Maina from Kihuri Secondary School in Kihuri Village says the punishment he received from the school principal in connection with the nail polish he had applied made him abandon the national examinations altogether.

Mr Isaac Ndegwa, the principal, confirms that last Friday, the student disappeared from school when he was expected to sit an exam.

Drama started when the “boy” was ordered to remove the nail polish. Mr Ndegwa said when he told Mr Maina to scrap it off, he was reluctant.

Inform invigilator

“I had ordered him to scrap off the nail polish before joining the rest in the exam room,” said Mr Ndegwa, who then proceeded to the exam room to inform the invigilator that there was a student outside who would be joining them shortly after he completes what he had been directed to do.

When Mr Ndegwa returned to check on the student, he realised the candidate was not within the school compound. He got directions to the student’s home from school neighbours. Unfortunately, he did not find his student at home.

Frantic efforts were made to search for the student, but in vain. The area assistant chief and the neighbours formed a search team, but the man was nowhere to be found.

Mr Ndegwa said this level of indiscipline was unexpected, and it had left his administration in anxiety and stress. “We are still hoping the boy will still come back and complete his Form Four course,” said Mr Ndegwa.

The principal later summoned the boy’s mother who informed him Mr Maina had changed clothes and left the compound. She didn’t know his whereabouts.

The student had initially started schooling at Karima Boy’s High School in Othaya and dropped out for a year. Later he joined Kihura, where he has been studying.

The principal said the student has so far been well behaved, except for a few indiscipline cases, and now the unfortunate incident.

When the Nation traced Mr Maina to their home, he said the punishment he received from the principal is what led to his actions. He has no regrets at all for avoiding the exams, and does not wish to sit the remaining papers.

Mr Maina said it all started on Thursday afternoon when, after lunch, together with a friend, they sneaked out of the school compound. The following day the principal summoned them to his office minutes before the exams started.

It is at the office where the principal noticed that Mr Maina’s finger nails had been manicured, contrary to school regulations.

“He caned me on my hands until they were swollen. I couldn’t even hold a pen,” he said, a claim Mr Ndegwa denied. He said he decided not to sit for the Kiswahili paper which was about to start. “My hands were swollen and decided I won’t sit for the paper. So I sneaked out of school and went home and removed school uniform,” he said.

The boy later, it emerged, went to Thika on a mission to avoid being forced back to the examination room. He insists he is not willing to go back to school any time soon to sit the remaining papers.

His mother, Mrs Anne Wahito Mwangi, a mother of one daughter and two sons, said Maina returned home on Friday night and when questioned about his behaviour, declined to answer.

She said she has no idea why her son refused to sit for the exams, and urged anyone who can help her to convince her son to go back to school and sit for his exams.

“It is good if my son goes back to school and completes his education, because this is the only way he will be able to uplift his living,” said Mrs Mwangi.