School denies pupil chance to sit KCPE examination

Peter Karani Nduku. A school in Nakuru has refused to register his daughter for KCPE terming her a slow learner.  [PHOTO: BONIFACE THUKU/STANDARD]

By LEONARD KULEI

Nakuru, Kenya: The silence that greeted us as we entered Peter Karani Nduku’s home in Kaloleni C estate in Nakuru was ominous.

Mr Nduku sat pensively at one corner of the sofa in his modest house clasping a sheaf of papers in his hands. The papers, it turned out, were letters that he had obtained from various offices, which he had visited in his desperate pursuit of justice for his daughter.

His daughter’s fate, he informed us, hanged in the balance as the school she has been studying in for the past six years had refused to register her for Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations.

Nduku said his daughter was expelled from Victonell School in Pangani, Nakuru, a private school, because her performance “was too low” and the school feared she would lower its overall performance. She has been out of school for three weeks now.

Like all parents, Nduku has denied himself the luxuries of life for the sake of his daughter’s future.

But to his surprise, he said, his daughter, 15-year-old Beth Nduta, was expelled by the school without warning. She was reportedly informed that her performance could become an embarrassment to the institution. KCPE registration exercise ends on March 31.

His father cannot understand just why it took the school six long years to realise that his daughter was an underperforming student, undeserving of the school.

He claims the school’s head teacher, Benson Ng’ang’a, personally denied Nduta access to the school. Mr Ng’ang’a allegedly turned her back at the gate on February 26, embarrassing her before her colleagues. Shocked and ashamed, she broke down, took to her heels and headed back home.

“She came home crying and looking worried. It was on a Monday morning and I was shocked by what was happening until I inquired from her,” says Anne Karani, her mother.

The parents said after seeking an appointment with the school’s head teacher, they were informed that the decision was final. “They told me to take my cries wherever I felt like because the decision to expel my daughter was final,” said Nduku.

The father said that Ng’ang’a at one point called him to advise him to take his daughter to a nearby public primary school and promised to help him do this.

 “I turned down that offer immediately knowing that he wanted to conceal his injustice,” explained an angry Nduku.

Dejected and lost on what to do, Nduku moved from one office to another. His date with the Nakuru County Director of Education Esther Muiru hit a snag after he was advised by the officer’s secretary that he could only present his case through a letter. The letter dated February 28, 2014, which is in possession of The Standard has never yielded any fruit.

Under achievement

A psychiatric report dated March 12, 2014, prepared by Dr Joseph W Njau, after examining the girl following her expulsion indicated that Nduta suffers from a learning disorder characterised by “academic under achievement in reading, writing, expression and mathematics”.

“She should be allowed to reach the highest level possible and sit exams appropriate for her age. She needs remedial assistance like individualised learning remediation, otherwise she may suffer psychological problems such as low esteem, lack of confidence and anxiety or depressive illness,” read the report which was ordered by the District Children’s Office.

But Nduku wonders why the school, which he says he has paid almost Sh500,000 in fees so far, took six years to “discover” that his daughter had a learning disorder.

 Staying for three weeks at home while her colleagues are in school has been a bitter pill for the pupil to swallow. She has gone for days without eating, worrying her  parents immensely.

 “I want to go back to school. I want to sit my KCPE. I don’t want my brother…Dennis to leave me behind. I love him so much. Pupils love me so much….they really love me and I miss them,” she says before tears overwhelm her.

Her friends who spoke to The Standard later and whose names we withhold because of fear of victimisation, said some teachers were making fun of her expulsion.

One of them, they said, jokingly asked pupils in class whether anyone had heard whether Nduta had committed suicide or had been lucky to be offered a vacancy in any school.

Her brother Samson Mbugua Karani adds: “We have invested so much in this child by paying huge amounts of money to this school...This is an injustice.”

The school’s head teacher confirmed Nduta has been a pupil in the school for the past six years and has been paying her school fees promptly. 

“We admitted her in 2009 but she is a slow learner,” he said.

Asked why the pupil was expelled two weeks to KCPE registration deadline, Ng’ang’a disconnected the phone. “You want to tarnish my school’s name?” he asked before disconnecting the line.

Muiru, who is the Nakuru County Director of Education, refused to comment on the matter and also disconnected the phone after listening to our questions.