Hard work never goes unrewarded, top Garissa girl says

Ms Leila Yussuf, a former student of Dertu Girls Secondary School, who scored a B+. PHOTO | ABDIMALIK HAJIR | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • According to her, lack of teachers, occasioned by the exodus of non-local tutors from the region due to terror attacks directed at them, dealt a huge blow to the education sector as unqualified ones were called to fill the gaps.
  • According to government estimates more than 2000 teachers have deserted their respective schools in the three Counties of Garissa, Wajir and Mandera following an attack on a Nairobi bound bus in which 28 teachers killed in November 2014.

From the dusty and remote village and a poor staffed school located 100 kilometres from Garissa town, emerged one of the top performing students in the county.

That girl is Ms Leila Yussuf, who scored a B+ of 67 points emerging one of the best performers in the region from public schools. She attributes here success to hard work.

According to her, lack of teachers, occasioned by the exodus of non-local tutors from the region due to terror attacks directed at them, dealt a huge blow to the education sector as unqualified ones were called to fill the gaps.

The only option that learners remained with was their God and individual effort and that is what she exactly did.

"Leaving of teachers following Al-Shabaab killing of non-locals was the lowest moment in my final year in the school. I had to study and revise by my own," she said.

According to government estimates more than 2000 teachers have deserted their respective schools in the three Counties of Garissa, Wajir and Mandera following an attack on a Nairobi bound bus in which 28 teachers killed in November 2014.

The situation was worsened by the Garissa University College attack on where 142 students and 6 security officers were massacred in cold blood.

"I believe that hard work never goes unrewarded. I made sure I have revised and covered the syllabus on my own. I did not rest nor have fun during holidays because I knew I had to work extra hard than candidates in other regions to achieve my goal even without teachers to turn to for assistance," she said.

The former Dertu Girls Secondary School student, 100 kilometres from Garissa town, was among the first batch of candidates from the institution to sit for their Form Four examinations.

Ms Yussuf said the school had challenges such as lack of well-equipped laboratories and lack of text books.

She said they were always on the lookout and worried of attacks from Al-Shabaab making their learning a nightmare.

Harsh environmental conditions also impacted negatively on them as she recalled how they could not study in the evening as the temperatures could rise to levels one could not be able to concentrate with studies.

"My encouragement to girls specially those who study away from towns is that they should be determined and work extra hard because nothing is impossible for someone who is determined," she said.
The school Principal Mr Noor Aden Dahir described Ms Yussuf as an obedient and highly disciplined girl.

He said the school currently has three Teachers Service Commission (TSC) employed tutors who struggle to cover all lessons adding that the government has promised to recruit three more teachers.