Why third best KCPE pupil risks missing out Form One admission
A 14 year-old boy who emerged third best nationally in the KCPE exams risks losing his admission to Maranda High School due to lack of fees.
Gabriel Miseda Ogweno of Our Lady Queen of Mercy Academy in Kitengela scored 44o marks in the 2018 KCPE exams. He was allowed to sit for the exams despite having a Sh27, 050 fee arrears.
“My parents are casual workers and are poor to take me to a national school. My fears are that I could in a day school in the neighbourhood and that means I have to work extremely harder,” Ogweno told Nairobi News.
The squalor in Kyangombe slum where he lives with his family is proof enough of the boy’s dire circumstance.
Ogweno said he always walked five kilometres to school in Noonkopir.
“Sometimes I would get a motorbike ride to school,” said Ogweno.
He attributed his success to determination, fear of God, time keeping and discipline.
“I always woke up at 4:30am whenever my alarm rings. I would study for one hour prepare and embark on getting to school,” said Ogweno.
He used to miss school during rainy seasons because a small stream along the way often broke its banks.
Ogweno looks at the world with digital lenses and has set his sights on becoming a Computer Software specialist.
The school’s director Ms Christine Mutambu is appealing to well-wishers to support the boy.
“Our school fees has been friendly targeting the low and middle income earners but this school balance shows that the family might fail to raise enough money to see the young boy through the secondary school, ” said the director.