Unravelling the riddle of Alliance giants amid limping dwarfs

Kenya: Kikuyu Sub-County, with its landmarks like PCEA Kikuyu Hospital whose Eye Unit attracts patients from East and Central Africa has a rich history.

The hospital was established in 1908 by the Scottish Mission. It is here, in Thogoto that the founding Kenyan President, Jomo Kenyatta, would get his formative education.

Thogoto is a few kilometres from Kikuyu town, “the gateway to white highlands,” according to Christine Nicholls in the book, Red Strangers: The White Tribe of Kenya.

Nicholls writes that Kikuyu was the central point on the line of the projected railway, “and the sanitary and climatic conditions being such as to point to its adoption as a place of residence especially suitable to Europeans...”

The Europeans settled into farming. To unwind, they built the Sigona Golf Club. The Asians started businesses and industries with the establishment of the Steel Rolling Mills and Saw Mills and a Bulk Tanning factory.

But it is education that would anchor Kikuyu in the annals of history when in 1926, neighbouring the hospital, Alliance High School emerged and under the leadership of Carey Francis, educated Kenya’s crème de la crème.

Then in 1948, a walking distance from the boys school, Alliance Girls sprouted on a 71-acre piece of land and also went ahead to take its place as an education giant.

Unfortunately, today, even as the schools continue to shine, the education system in Kikuyu and Kabete constituencies, and the larger Kiambu is in the doldrums.

“Education standards in Kikuyu, and Kiambu as a whole are not where they used to be,” says Kiambu Senator Kimani Wamatangi.

Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wa concurs. Ichung’wa attended Alliance and in a recent forum at Wida Highway Motel, Sigona, he said that despite the schools being in Kikuyu, you will find only a few students from the region at any given time.

Kikuyu Sub-County Director of Education, Zipporah Gikambi says the Alliances enroll an average of five students from Kikuyu constituency each year.

In 2013, according to data from Kikuyu Constituency Education (Kice) Fund, Alliance Girls had four students from Kikuyu, nine in 2014 and four in 2015.

Alliance High School enrolled five in 2012, four in 2013 and 2014, with this year increasing to eight.

It can of course be argued that during the establishment of the Alliances as the first schools admitting African children, their mission was to have a national outlook.

But Wamatangi says in the earlier days a class was reserved for the local community. “Not anymore,” he rues. This, he argues should be re-introduced in line with what is done in areas with natural resources, where local communities directly benefit.

Wamatangi made this plea last year in May, when President Uhuru Kenyatta visited Alliance. He also called on academic giants to start peer mentorship programmes to motivate students from other schools. “Through this, a C grade can be transformed to a B.”

Indeed, looking at 2014 KCSE results analysis data by Kice, the gap between the Alliances and other institutions is overwhelming. Alliance High School leads with a mean score of 10.85, Alliance Girls follows with 10.19.

Then comes number three, Moi Girls’ Kamangu with a mean score of just above the half mark, 6.86. Located in Nachu ward, the school was once a beacon of exemplary performance. Number four, Kikuyu Boys’, a new school with 25 candidates had a below average mean score of 4.83.

While Alliance High boasted 123 As out of 348 candidates and Alliance Girls’ 56 out of 327 candidates, Moi Girls did not have any. In fact, no other school in Kikuyu had an A. Moi had two A-, compared to the 218 A- in the two Alliances combined.

Gikambi cites alcohol and drug abuse as among the reasons for the poor performance. She says education stakeholders are determined to change this. “We are putting our heads together, and there is goodwill from politicians.”

Wamatangi argues that proximity to Nairobi and the locals’ entrepreneurial leanings have affected learning.

“Some of our young people prefer to start businesses, others get employed in unskilled jobs. The matatu business is especially attractive, compared to other areas where creating knowledge based jobs like in ICT is common,” Wamatangi says.

Though Kikuyu registers the highest enrollment rates among the 10 sub-counties, only 38 per cent transit to colleges and universities.

Most do not transit for lack of school fees. At the Wida Motel meeting where Ichung’wa had invited professionals from Kikuyu to discuss development, he said the CDF bursary is not enough to educate all needy students.

Following plea by his friend Moses Chege, Ichungw’a in 2013 started the Kice.