NAIROBI: Most private candidates who sit for KCSE more often do so to get the important O-Level certificate document having dropped out or failed to join secondary school altogether, for one reason or the other.
But as Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i Thursday officially announced the results of 525,802 learners who sat for last year’s exams, there is a crop of students who sat for KCSE to be an example to others.
Geoffrey Ng’ania is an example. The 45 year old was among the first lot of students who did KCSE in 1989, he got a C+ and proceeded to join Moi University for a degree in Philosophy, Language and Religious Studies.
The Assistant Programme Officer at the Bible Translation and Literacy (BTL) in-charge of Western Kenya, however chose to re-sit the same exam last year to motivate a group of private students he has been working with over the years to go back to school.
Mr Ng’ania who has encouraged over 100 drop-outs from his Sabaot community to re-join school, got a D+ in his second attempt at KCSE, three grades lower than what he managed to get 26 years ago.
“I am so elated, I did well considering that I started studying in March last year after registration. I did nine subjects,” said Ng’ania, who was among the top private students in his class of 67, they sat for KCSE at Central Primary School in Eldoret.
“I had to juggle between work and family. I took a month long leave to prepare for the exams in the final month,” disclosed the father of three, about some of the challenges he faced.
He explained to The Standard that a relatively high number of those he convinced to register as private candidates failed to clear their studies, prompting him to make up his mind to find out what ailed them by personally enrolling for the exams.
“I now have experience on what they undergo. The lessons I learnt will inform me in my campaigns to encourage people who missed a chance to do KCSE to try again,” said Ng’ania , who in 2011 constructed a school for adult learners at his farm in Kinyoro, Saboti Constituency.
Since the establishment of the Mima Adult Education Centre, Ng’ania has been a volunteer teacher, with the first group of students sitting for the secondary National examinations in 2013.
According to data from the ministry of education, there are a total of 1,444 examination centres for private students across the country.
