A former pupil of St Theresa’s Girl’s Boarding school, Virginia Wairimu (centre) and her parents check her KCPE result slip. Her school, a public institution, was ranked as private. Photo: George Mulala/Standard
Virginia Wairimu stares at her last year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) result slip and smiles outwardly with satisfaction, but deep inside she is weeping.
With the 411 marks she got out of the possible 500, Wairimu was among the best performers in the Nyeri County and was poised to join a national school.
Beneath the girl’s smile lies the fear of losing her dream of becoming an aeronautical engineer because of a mix-up that erroneously categorised her school — St Theresa’s Girls Primary School — a public institution as private.
By listing the school as private, Wairimu and her other colleagues have to bear the brunt of the recently introduced quota system of Form One selection that favours candidates from public school in joining national schools.
The mistake by the Ministry of Education officials in Nyeri has made 15 girls, among them Wairimu to be relegated to the lower-ranked provincial institutions.
The school produced the second best candidate from Central Province, with the top girl managing 427 marks. Six of the candidates scored more than 400 marks.
The school is managed by the Mary Immaculate Sisters.
“I struggled for the four years I have been in this school to get a place in a national school, but my dreams have been shattered,” she says, the 14-year-old as emotion chokes her voice.
With her grades, Wairimu could have secured a vacancy at any of her dream national schools — Loreto Girls, Limuru, Mary Hill High School, Kenya High School or Moi Girls Eldoret.
Because of the error at the Central Provincial Director of Education’s office, she only secured a chance at St Anne’s Girls Lioki in Kiambu — a provincial school.
“My appeal to the government is to nullify the selection and consider other candidates who suffered my fate. It is not our mistake,” she said.
Her father, Dr Michael Mugo, who is a lecturer at Egerton University, termed the error a big let-down to her daughter and the family and wants the ministry to correct it.
Big dreams
“This is a case of how the ministry is messing dreams of young ambitious Kenyan children,” he said.
The school’s deputy head teacher Ms Leah Chege said although the institution is a boarding school, it is purely a public institution that even benefits from the Free Primary Education programme.
“All our teachers are employees of the Teachers Service Commission. It pains us that we have been clustered as private, denying us our chances in national schools,” she said.
Central Kenya Primary School Heads Association Chairman Nicholas Gathemia said another Primary school in Nyeri, Tetu Girls, was also affected by similar errors.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Nyeri sponsors both schools.
Mr Njeru Kanyamba, the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) Secretary General accused the Ministry of Education of lacking updated inventory of institutions, saying it had meant disservice to candidates.
Contacted, Education Secretary Mr George Godia who was coincidentally supervising Form One selections in Nyeri said several schools in Kenya were affected by similar the mix-ups.
“We advise the parents and the affected schools to forward their cases to our offices for correction. We have acted on some cases,” said Godia.
But despite Prof Godia’s assurance, Wairimu and her parents remain heart broken.
They fear all Form One places in national schools would have been taken up by the time the mistake is rectified.
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