Son tutors mother to top of class

Joseph Kiheri | Nation
Josephine Wangechi (centre) who scored a B+ in last year’s KCSE, celebrates her results with her son, Patrick Kiragu, and her mother, Mary Wangari, in Rongai, Nakuru.

What you need to know:

  • Woman scored top marks and plans to join university after returning to school and studying with her son

Hard work has finally paid off for a 38-year-old mother. For waking up every day at 4am to study, Josephine Wangechi scored an impressive B- (minus) in the recently released 2010 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations results.

The jewel on the crown was the fact that she relied on her 19-year-old son, Patrick Kiragu, to tutor her.

Ms Wangechi is not just stopping there; she intends to join university to further her education.

She dropped out of school 20 years ago due to lack of school fees and got married. But in 2007, she decided to resume her studies and enrolled at Ol Rongai Secondary School in Rongai, Nakuru, to the amusement of her three sons.

They found it hilarious that their mother would go back to school at a time when her age mates were stay-at-home mothers or worked in the maize and flower farms in the Rongai area.

Her eldest son, Kiragu, 19, sat for his KSCE in 2009 at Nakuru Boys High School and scored a B+(plus).

She would wake up at 4am with Kiragu to study. The son would take his mother through the syllabus, ensuring she revised everything in readiness for the examinations.

On some days, she would wake up earlier than her son to work on assignments he would have prepared for her, especially in sciences and mathematics.

He would mark the assignments during the day while she attended classes at Ol’Rongai Secondary School.

“My aim was to attain the same grade as my son Kiragu, who is my role model when it comes to education,” says Wangechi. “I am happy that I got enough points to join university.” Kiragu is happy with the performance of his “student.”

He says he has always an educated mother.

Wangechi’s low literacy level had been a big burden to her. She found most simple things, like opening a bank account, a big challenge.

She would need help from a friend every time she had to deposit or withdraw cash from a bank.

“I could not even go shopping alone; my husband felt I needed someone to go with me as he feared that I would lose all the shopping money,” says Wangechi. “I felt I was becoming a burden and was unhappy that the people who accompanied me to the bank got to know everything about my account.”

That is when she made up her mind to go back to school.

“I found it  awkward that mum would go back to school, but I always wanted the best for her and encouraged her to follow her heart,” says Kiragu.

She emerged fourth overall in her class, and was the top female student at the school where she was fondly called “Mom” by fellow students, teachers and other staff.

She has set her sights on a degree in nursing. Her son, Kiragu, intends to study computer engineering.

Apart from her son, Wangechi also owes her success to the dedication of her teachers, and her mother who helped pay her school fees.

She says her other children later overcame their earlier misgivings and gave her moral support.

Her two other sons are still in school. One is a Form Three student at Nakuru Boys High School while the youngest is in Class Four at a primary school near their home.

Wangechi is already arming herself for the expensive higher education ahead by engaging in farming projects to raise enough money to pay for her university courses.