The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization with investments in media
platforms spanning newspaper print
operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a
leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in matters of national and
international interest.
Kiambu Boys High School was founded as an institution catering for environmental studies in 1976 — it had no proper curriculum.
Key teachers thus left barely a year after it started, and with that, training collapsed and learning shifted to normal secondary schooling.
‘Katchez,’ as Kiambu Boys is nicknamed (from their aptitude in catching girls), was initially a mixed school — it was turned into a boy’s boarding school attracting elite parents in the 1980s when O-Level students caused a ruckus demanding to wear trousers like their counterparts in A-Level. There was also a school strike over changes in school diet without their consent. This saw students expelled after boycotting the breakfast starring porridge — the boys demanded eggs, tea, bread and fruits. The demand was rather odd in a school where a harambee was held to sort out leaking roofs in 1993!
The school where boys are monitored on CCTV preferred chicks from St Anne’s Lioki and Komothai Girls, whom they impishly nicknamed ‘common thighs.’
The most dreaded punishment at Katchez was cleaning the pigs’ sty, while ‘monos’ shunned the dormitories until late into the night due to bullies creeping to unleash terror. Some students recall when Kiambu Boys was a mixed school, and Form Two girls would encircle and try ‘tuning’ a ‘momo’ who fell in love, only to be laughed off with the dismissive remark: “Monos don’t qualify to fall in love with me!”
Notable alumni who wore maroon cardigans, blue shirts and navy blue trousers include the late human rights lawyer Willie Kimani and transgender activist Audrey Mbugua (then Andrew Mbugua). It was here where DJ Gee Gee of Kubamba TV show was guided by the motto, ‘Faith in Work’ as was Tusker brand manager at Diageo in London, John Njuguna; Eunice Kamaara, professor at Moi University; and Kenya National Commission on Human Rights commissioner, Jedidah Waruhiu.
Other proud ‘Katcherians’ include Michael Obwori, a wireline engineer at Baker Hughes, an American Industrial Service Company; and Paul Mugo, a senior auditor at British Council.
