Student defies odds to win prestigious award

Bahari Girls High School students celebrate Asma Hassan who emerged the best mathematics student in the Brookside Mathlete national contest at Ribe Boys High School at the weekend.

What you need to know:

  • Mr Pundo said he could not allow one of his brightest students to study in a lower school let alone stop her studies.
  • The principal, who teaches CRE, said they have been readmitting students who got pregnant after they give birth.

In 2017, Asma Hassan’s uncle, Hassan Athman, went to Bahari Girls High School to seek her transfer to a local day school in Malindi due to lack of school fees.

The family could not afford the fees of more than Sh50,000 at the prestigious girls national school in Kilifi, forcing them to either terminate their firstborn daughter’s education or seek sponsorship.

Asma’s uncle, a shopkeeper, begged Mr Denis Pundo to allow his niece to move, but the class teacher could hear none of it. Instead, Mr Pundo told the principal, Ms Prisca Mgute, to intervene in the needy case.

BRIGHT STUDENTS

Mr Pundo said he could not allow one of his brightest students to study in a lower school let alone stop her studies.

“Our principal pleaded with the school board who paid her fees,” the class teacher said.

By that time, the 19-year old-girl’s performance had started deteriorating.

“I come from a poor family. My mother is sickly, she cooks to make ends meet. My sister dropped out of school due to lack of school fees. My uncle who has been taking care of me could no longer afford it. All we could do was pray,” she said.

SCHOLARSHIP

A well-wisher from Kesho Foundation stepped in to pay her fees. “She started working very hard in her studies. She has always been top of her class since Form One. However, in Form Three, her performance went down due to family issues only to regain her place later. I have high hopes for her. She has proved that your background and problems do not determine your future,” the principal said.

The principal, who teaches CRE, said they have been readmitting students who got pregnant after they give birth.

“We also don’t allow stigmatisation against those who have been impregnated,” she said, adding that she was glad Asma got a scholarship for her university education.

On Monday, Nation met the girl in the school, clad in a tattered school uniform. “I come from a place where girls are only taught how to cook for their husbands. I come from a background where all my age mates are married off or have at least three to four children. But I want something different for my life, I want to excel despite where I come from. I want people to know that a rural girl in a marginalised area can do it,” she said.

ACHIEVED DREAMS

The mathematics and chemistry enthusiast achieved her dreams when she was declared this year’s Brookside Mathlete contest’s top scorer from Coast region, scoring an A of 90 per cent, and beating over 2,000 bright students from the region on Saturday at Ribe Boys High School. The award comes with a school fees scholarship.

Asma is yet to tell her family the news because her mother does not have a mobile phone. She counts herself lucky because whenever she lacks personal essentials her friends help her.

She wants to study structural engineering at Strathmore University.

In the contest, Suleiman Halinishi of Taita-Taveta’s Murray Girls was second with an A score of 80 per cent, after tying with another Bahari Girls student, Mwanamwinyi Mwinyihaji.

In the boys’ category, Mombasa’s Aga Khan High School produced the top scorer after Deven Ramesh managed 93 per cent. Mukaram Mustaffa, another Aga Khan student, won a runners up slot with 80 per cent.

Ms Christine Maina, Brookside Dairy’s general manager for marketing, commended mathematics departments in schools in the Coast region for adequately preparing students for the contest.