Two top 2022 KCPE students still stranded at home due to lack of school fees

Just a day before the window for Form One admission closes, two needy students from Mukuru Kwa Njenga and Kitengela are at risk of missing their slots due to lack of school fees.

Petronila Mbinda was the overall best student in Embakasi South after scoring 418 marks in last year’s KCPE exams and was admitted to St. Theresa Girls in Mbooni.

Across town in Kitengela, Silas Mumo who scored 417 marks also risks missing his coveted slot in Oloolaiser High School.

These two bright but needy students are hoping for a miracle to enable them to join their peers in high school.

“Nilikuwa nasoma kwa bidii ndio niweze kuwa journalist...nataka kuwa journalist na my role model ni Lulu Hassan,” Petronilla says.

“Mwisho ni this Monday tarehe kumi na tatu...nisipoenda shule naona nikirudia darasa la nane.”

Her father has given up hope of scraping enough money together to send his beloved child to the next level of her education; he is now considering having her repeat Class Eight.

“Sina uwezo wa kuafford ile shule mtoto ameitwa…ila sijui kama akirudia atapata ile alama alikuwa amepata kwa kuwa nitakuwa nimemvunja moyo,” Petronila’s father Kennedy Mbinda said.

He is now appealing to the government to intervene and help him fulfil the dreams of his daughter.

“Ningeomba serikali iingilie kati ifuatilie kila mtoto ameenda shule kama vile ilifanyika wakati wa the late Magoha… wazazi wengi tuko na changamoto, sio mimi pekee yangu, sio Mukuru Kwa Njenga bali ni kote Kenya...watu wa media hamtafikia wote,” he said.

The school where Petronila schooled for the last eight years is in urgent need of a facelift. A makeshift mabati structure is the only chance at an education that most children from the slum have.

It has produced one of the best students countrywide, but the head teacher is disturbed that all that hard work may go unrewarded

 “Hii naweza sema ni kama janga especially kwa watu kama sisi...tunaishi kwa vitongoji duni na wazazi ambao hawajimudu,” Felix Mutisya, the head teacher of Mercy Cliff Junior School, said.

In Kitengela, Kajiado County, Silas Mumo has been dealt the same hand. A picture of him in one of the local dailies shows parents and teachers lifting him high when KCPE results were announced.

He scored an impressive 417 marks in KCPE and was admitted to Oloolaiser High School, the only national school in the vast county. Financial constraints make his future uncertain.

It is a matter of days before these two top performers lose their secondary education slots to poverty.