Unhappy with grades, adults return to class for better papers

By Wainaina Wa Ndung’u

Something quite unusual is happening inside the Nyeri Municipal market. A rare secondary school class has been instituted and residents are flocking to enroll. Here, there are no Forms One, Two, Three or Four. It’s just secondary education. Period.

The class, itself is stashed in a former community hall surrounded by tiny noisy stalls selling all manner of wares.

On a rickety blue wooden door, a tiny black and white label whispers: "Adult Education."

This is the only pointer to the gem that lies inside this old building.

Inside, you meet 40-year-old Nyeri High School history teacher Micheni Murugi and his class of 18 students, the youngest being a bubbly office secretary, Sophie, 27. Sophie says she chose to go back to class to erase a blot in her life that was her Grade D+ at KCSE ten years ago.

The Nyeri class is one among a group of secondary school classes being run across the country under a revitalised Adult Education Programme.

No wasting of time

Age aside, there are many notable contrasts to an ordinary secondary school class. The students have no uniforms and a number of mobile phones lie comfortably on the desks.

The Nyeri High School teacher says eagerness of his adult students has astonished him: "They have specific objectives and are more focused. You wouldn’t even want to waste their time."

The oldest student here is Beth Mwangi, 52, who works at the provincial medical office. A grandmother, she finished her O’Levels in the 1980s getting a Division IV, and this has always been a sore thumb in her life.

Now she is targeting a Grade C+ (plus) and her favourite subjects include history and CRE. With a good grade at KCSE, she hopes to enrol in Theology and Counselling.

A disadvantaged background also kept away Loice Mundia, 37, from advancing her education beyond Kericho Primary in Nyeri town. A support staffer at the Nyeri campus of the Kenya Medical Training College, Mundia wants to sit KCSE then pursue a course in procurement or customer care.

Sitting alone in a class crowded by women, Charles Ndirangu, 28, is a courageous man. The bookbinder says his desire to complete secondary education shuts out other voices from his head.

Ndirangu completed primary course in 1999 at Hill Farm Primary in Nyeri town but he could not join secondary for lack of fees. He says he heard of the new programme during last year’s International Literacy Day and "it changed my life".

In Mukurwe-ini, the District Adult Education Officer Lawrence Muriu has established five adult education secondary classes spread throughout the constituency.

State hires classes

You will find enthusiastic villagers in their 20s, 30s and 40s swapping their tea harvesting baskets, hoes and milking cans to attend classes every weekday from 2pm to 5.30pm. On weekends, the classes ran from 9am to 2pm.

Safely away from the hustle and bustle of their farms, businesses or jobs, you will get them sweating to excel in such topics as the theory of creation, calculus to the reproductive system and systems of government.

Other centres in Mukuruwe-ini have been launched at Gathuki Mundu, Gatambaya, Karicheni and Ngamwa trading centres.

Here students pay Sh950 a month to hire their teachers and they are also expected to cover costs of their writing materials. The department of Adult Education, under Ministry of Education, meets costs of hiring classes.

Adult Education Department says their most successful classes in the province are in Thika.