It’s been 60 years of hard work for St Joseph’s School, Githunguri

Among the classroom blocks at St Joseph’s High School, Githunguri in Kiambu, stands an old timber-walled but well maintained four-roomed unit that is as old as the existence of the school.

The block has a history that very few know of, save for those who studied there. Though the school has over the years constructed modern blocks to cater for the growing population, the management has protected the timber structure and has always ensured that it remains in good shape and has an appealing look.

The structure, which is part of the school’s face, was put up in 1958, the same year the boy’s school was started as the first African Day School in the country by a Fr Gannon, who was then the Supervisor of Schools in the mission following an approval by the Education Department.

Other than being the oldest structure in the school, the block also has its own history, in that, the material used for its construction was the same as that which was used to construct the first General Postal Office (GPO) in Nairobi and was donated to Fr Gannon.

NO AID

When Fr Gannon got a nod to start the institution, which is situated 35km from Kiambu Town, 41km from Nairobi and about 2km from Githunguri Trading Centre in 1958, he did not have the resources to put it up and other than promises, no aid was coming by.

This was despite the fact that he had secured the 31 acres at the site where the school currently stands, which had been set aside as a school plot during the land consolidation but upon which no school had ever been built.

Not one to allow lack of recourses to frustrate his ambitions, Fr Gannon borrowed two classrooms at a primary school in the neighbouring Miguta village and through a collaborated effort from both the Catholic Mission and the community, the school started where it operated for one year with 31 students.

This, according to Mr Paul Kariuki who studied in the school and finished in 1974, and who has been a member the school’s board for 23 years, eight as the chairman of the school, was to allow the construction of classroom at its current site.

DIAMOND JUBILEE

The school, which will celebrate its diamond Jubilee on July 22, was put under the administration of the defunct Central Provincial Education office in Nyeri by the Education Department.

However, the department did not give any grant-in-aid but promised Fr Gannon that aid would be forthcoming later.

 “The school operated at Miguta for one year (1958), after which the students who were then going to Form Two were relocated to where it is today, but 14 of them dropped out. A fresh Form One lot also enrolled,” Mr Kariuki said.

According to Mr Kariuki, Fr Gannon, who in the school records is named as the founder, designed the wooden block and pupils from the neighbouring Catholic primary schools assisted in its putting up.

Mr Kariuki said the block hosted the principal’s office, teachers’ residence and classrooms, and students who hailed from far areas, making it difficult for them to commute, would at night convert the two classrooms to boarding rooms.

“The students took care of themselves, including by buying food, cooked or hired someone to cook for them. The school management only got involved in learning which took place during the day,” Mr Kairuki said.

NO REMUNERATION

The then Archbishop of Nairobi, His Grace J. J McCarthy, agreed to Fr Gannon’s request to allow priests on the teaching staff to work without remuneration until when the school was able to get aid. The community, through a partnership, contributed money to help pay lay teachers’ salaries as well as purchase learning equipment, including putting put a chemistry and biology laboratories. 

Grant-in-aid for recurrent expenses only came in 1960, and according to Mr Kariuki, it’s then salary begun to be paid to one of the priests who was part of the teaching staff and one of the African lay teachers, former Cabinet Minister James Gichuru (now deceased).

When he was putting up the school, Fr Gannon was responding to the need for the expansion of secondary education in the area, especially on the account of the large number of intermediate schoolboys in the area, most of which were Catholic church sponsored.

The day school made it sure that the greater proportion of those who did well in KAPE, which was the primary education of the time, got the advantage of a secondary school education.

“Such move ensured that parents would not be altogether disappointed when qualified boys failed to gain a place in one of the few existing boarding schools at the time,” Mr Kariuki said, adding that the school served students from Githunguri, and other regions that constitute Kiambu County.

EXPANSION

The number of students kept increasing and in 1968, the management saw the need for expansion, a development that saw the school get a second stream.

However, the institution, whose first three principals were Catholic priests, remained a day school, and with the number of students increasing, including those from far areas, a neighbour saw a business opportunity.

He constructed a block of timber houses next to the school which he would rent out to the students at a cost Sh20 per month. Mr Kariuki said he shared a room with two others and they each contributed Sh20 per term.

“We also used to go to the market, buy food stuff and we had someone who was cook for us. There were other students who stayed in a mud house within the compound under the same arrangement,” he said of a setup they used to refer as bweni (dormitory).

The number of students who were joining the school, which at one time in the 60s beat Mang’u High School in academic performance continued to increase, creating a demand for extra classrooms, and in 1978, the institution got a third stream through a harambee.

PERMANENT CLASSROOMS

Since then, more permanent classrooms, laboratories, library, dormitories and an administration block have been constructed through government aid, harambee and initiatives by the alumni.

Currently, the school has a population of 1,005 students, and according to the principal Mr Wachira Miano, the number rose from 836 in 2017, following the government’s 100 per cent transition policy initiative.

This, he said, saw the school increase the number of streams to six, adding that the capacity is still insufficient.

Mr Martin Mburu, who is the chairman of the board of management, said over the 60 years, 8,000 students have gone through the institution, most of whom are now holding responsible positions in both the government and private sector.

Notable alumni of the school include Prof Koigi Kamau, a gynecologist who completed education in 1972, Prof Peter Kamau Wanyoiki, a neurosurgeon (1981) and Prof Francis Ndung’u Kibera  (1964), a lecturer at the University of Nairobi.

The founder and chairman of Family Bank, Mr Titus Kiondo Muya, completed in 1963, former Dagoretti MP Charles Kamuyu in 1962, the current Githunguri and Ruiru MPs Kago wa Lydia and Ng’an’ga King’ara respectively also went through the school.

CATHOLIC PRIESTS

Nation Media Group’s cartoonist Samuel Muigai (Igah) is also part of the old boys, who also include at least 27 Catholic priests, among them Prof Fr Lawrence Njoroge who is a lecturer and Chaplain at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). He was in the class of 1969.

The number of priests makes the school the second producer of Catholic priests after the seminaries.

This could perhaps be attributed to the school’s core values, among them spiritual foundation under the Catholic Church, which has been instrumental in building the character of the students and instilling self-discipline in them.

Fr Michael Karanja, who has been the school’s chaplain since 2008, said the spiritual foundation helps the students acquire “healthy and meaningful behaviour”, therefore, enabling them tap their potential to the fullness.

The priests conduct masses in the school and retreats which bring together all the students, teachers and sometimes parents, and this, Fr Karanja says has helped the school maintain discipline and good performance. Last year, 41 candidates joined the university.

The institution, which is an extra-county school, and whose uniform of light blue shirts, grey pair of trouser and maroon sweaters and black for prefects, is, however, open to followers of their denominations and Muslim.