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There was nothing spectacular four years ago in the family of a security guard in Murang’a when his third born son scored what everybody thought was an unimpressive 278 marks.
“I was very frustrated when I sat my KCPE at Muthangari Primary School and got 278 marks. I wanted to repeat but my father refused. He said there was no money and I was better off attending a local day school,” recalls Josphat Mwangi Kamau.
But when Education CS Amina Mohamed released the KCSE results, Josphat was named the most improved candidate after scoring A- with a performance index of 79.4. “I could not believe it. Although I could see my name on the television screen, I still thought this was unreal. It took my neighbours and relatives to convince me that it was true. I am very happy,” he said.
Josphat sat his KCSE exam in the local Mioro Secondary, a sub-county school, after his hopes of joining Thika High School were crushed. For four years, the student used public transport to cover the 2.5km distance from his home to school. “At times I would ride on a boda boda. But every evening whether it rained or not, I had to trek home,” he said. His mother Agnes Wangui could not hide her joy.
Josphat’s Business Studies teacher Joseph Kanene described him as an aggressive student . “When classes ended at 5.30pm, he would at times stay on in the school alone, sometimes until 10pm,” said Kanene.
Josphat is the first to get such a high grade since the school was established in 2004.