HM in trouble over KCPE results

Any right thinking person who understands the circumstances under which our school operates will agree with me that our performance in last year’s KCPE was very good.

Our results were the best we have ever had in a long time and this was reflected in the improved mean score.

We could have done better; but considering that neighbouring school Hitler’s Den, had Saphire as the 2013 class eight teacher while Nyayo and Rashid are the key members of the school PTA; and that the former HM was rarely at school, you will agree with me that a mean score of 203.02 was a great achievement.

You see, KNEC only ranks private school and public schools. I am sure if they ranked village schools separately, Mwisho wa Lami Primary would no doubt be among the top 150 in this category, if not making it in the top 100. That is why I have been advocating for the formation of Kenya Village Primary Schools Association to advance our interests.

Among the people who were first unhappy with the results was Bensouda, our female Headmaster.

“I have never seen such results in my life as a teacher,” she said in our first staff meeting this term, throwing the result papers on the table.

“Madam HM,” I said. “I know you think this is bad but even if we check, we greatly improved compared to 2012 and also if you compare ours with our neighbours.”

Kwame added, “This is the first time in this school’s history that we had a mean score of more than 200.” He said, “I think we deserve a clap for that.” The rest of the staffroom joined in the clapping

“How can you clap for such results,” Bensouda wondered. We however managed to convince her that comparatively, we had done well.

Setting new targets

“We must aim at an average score of 300 this year,” she said. There was laughter in the staffroom. “What is so funny?” she asked.

“Expecting a mean score of 300 is daydreaming,” said Mrs Atika.

Added Lutta: “It is not like we do not want to get this,” she he said. “We can do it but the students we have just cannot do it.”

We managed to convince Bensouda to lower the target to 250. This too was still a dream.

Despite this great performance, a ‘few several’ enemies of development were still not satisfied. They were led by Rasto’s son Tocla.

Theophilas, Tocla’s son, was among the best students we had last year. Theophilas scored 214 marks, coming a respectable third position in our school.

Tocla was my classmate in primary school and if I remember well, he scored 154 marks in KCPE – marking the end of his schooling life. He now works as a watchman in Mombasa and rarely comes home. But when he travelled home last week, and learnt of the marks his son got, he was quite disappointed.

“I had saved money for my son’s fees at Alliance,” he told me when we met at Hitler’s. “But because of the teachers of Mwisho Wa Lami, he has ‘fallen’ exams.”

I asked him how much he has saved and he told me it was Sh15,000. “Although I have used about Sh2,000.”

I told him that that amount was not even enough to shop for any Alliance student but he argued with me insisting that it was enough.

Soon, intelligence reached me that Tocla would be leading other villagers to demonstrate at school asking for the transfer of the HM over poor performance. His father Rasto, Alphayo, Hitler were among the other people he was to come with to attack the school.

I did my Jicho Pevu and found out that Tocla was actually being fronted by Kwame and other teachers who were fighting to have Bensouda transferred from the school.
This was not surprising since Bensouda and Kwame had never heard each other ear to ear. In short, they are not on speaking terms.

I immediately notified the HM, as well as friendly colleagues like Madam Mary and Mrs Atika.

I then advised the HM to meet the organisers of the protest and discuss the matter with them, but she insisted on crafting a strategic vision for the school, and sharing this with Tocla’s group.

“They will not read any paper,” I said. “This is Mwisho wa Lami.” I told her.

How to quell a protest

“Meet them and employ Tocla as the school watchman and give Alphayo a job to repair the school toilets.”

I was sure that if he did this, the whole matter would be forgotten and the group would be singing her praises within a week.

“I can’t do that,” the HM told me. “I am a principled woman.” When she insisted, I could not argue any further. I let her do whatever she wanted. After all, wasn’t she the one earning the HM’s salary? Ajikarange!

Over last weekend, I leant that the attack on the school was planned on Tuesday. I shared this intelligence with Bensouda and she asked me to keep monitoring.

As expected, come Monday, Kwame asked for permission to be away on Tuesdays. He however planned to come to school and leave at around 10.a.m.

The HM told him the she would let him know if he was permitted by the end of the day. I did further investigations and told the HM that the protests were planned at around 11.00. a.m., a few minutes after the Deputy planned to have left schools.

We went to school early on Tuesday morning and all was going to well. I had to be careful since I knew I was also targeted. But I had told the HM not to appear.

The fact that the HM had not arrived made Kwame restless. He was frantically on phone and I knew he was waiting for the HM to arrive so that he could leave. I had however worked the HM and she would not be coming. As agreed, she called Kwame and informed him that she would be coming in at 10.30 a.m and asked Kwame to be in charge.

At around 10.20 a.m, as I was busy pumping Kiswahili into the heads of Mwisho wa Lami children when I heard noise at the gate, I knew they were the protesters.

We all came out. Tocla, Anindo, Rasto and Alphayo among others were on the fore front with leaves and placards. They came from Hitler’s home and it was clear they had imbibed something. They were singing mapambano as they approached the staffroom.

One placards read: “Suck Bensouda Now” while another read: “Bendousa Murst Go”. They went to the staffroom but were disappointed to find the HM not in. Kwame addressed them and told them that he will pass the message to the HM. They however stayed around waiting for her to come but she never came. Disappointed, they left.

Later that evening, Bensouda called asking me what to do and I told her to work on my earlier plan.

Appoint Tocla to be the school watchman. She asked me to meet Tocla and I met him that evening. Tocla quickly accepted the offer – as he had lost his job in Mombasa. I also met Alphayo, and offered him the contract to dig two pit latrines at the school.

The started work last Friday, the same day the HM returned to school and with that, the protest was over.

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