Rising above K.C.S.E bad grades
Courtesy of Kenya Today
By Njai Ka Wambui
The 2020 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) recorded an improvement from last year’s performance. Out of 747,161 students who sat for the K.C.S.E exam in 2020, 143,140 got an aggregate point of C+ which is the minimum requirement to join university an improvement from 2019 which recorded 125,746.
Naturally, all attention goes to those who qualify to join universities and the rest are forgotten. However, all is not lost for them and they go ahead and make a living out of their situation;
Rekindled passion.
A time like this fifteen years ago, Kenneth Kamau had nothing to smile about. He was determined to eradicate prevalent poverty in his family. He knew that education was the only way out. Nelson Mandela’s words on education being the equalizer are what motivated him. He was a good bright student, so he says.
” I used to perform quite well. Although I was in a day school I could gauge myself over the holidays with my peers, and I was not badly off,” he said. It was therefore obvious that he was hopeful that he’d pass his exams.
A rude shock awaited him. “You had to go physically check and those who had access to phones would do it. Amazingly, nowadays it’s just a text away, and you get the results,” he continued. At school, he confirmed his fears and he had not performed as he had hoped.
“I had scored a C,” he said in a sunken voice.
He felt dejected and even contemplated repeating the fourth form. His cousin, who then had employed him as he awaited the results, advised him otherwise.
” He told me to start a small cereals shop. I had already learned a few things since I was assisting my cousin to run his shop in downtown Nairobi- Nyamakima. The rest, as you can see is history and years of hard-working,” he said.
He defied all odds, and today he runs two godowns and a fleet of shops in Nyamakima and other places in the country. He is living his best life, to say the least.
He advises young people that grades are good and they should work hard to make them remarkable but if they fail they should explore other avenues.
” Your hard work out here is all that matters though I do not hire people on a grade basis,” he noted.
Get Technical Skills
His story is similar to that of John Kerubo, a taxi driver. From afar, he looked just like an ordinary man going about his business. Beneath his glaring smile, lay wealth not just intellectually but even financially wise. John had been my cab driver and the conversation about the exams with him was quite an eye-opening experience.
” I failed! I got a D, one of the lowest grades,” he recounts.
Well, that marked end of his education journey. Her mother took him to a driving course, a skill that he has utilized to date. This has seen him grow to an employer, with three more cars on the digital cabs platform.
“If education doesn’t work just go ahead and try your luck somewhere else in the technical world. Luck will get you there,” he said.
Be a problem solver
Eunice Victoria, C.E.O and founder of Skills to Grow Africa says that failing exams should not mean the end but should be a starting point.
” What you do next after failing your exams life is all that matters; it can break or make your life,” she said in an interview with The Insider.
In her career as a life and career coach, she says she has encountered many people who were deemed as failures in school but pursued to get high levels of education. She appeals to young people to look out for problems then can solve.
“Problems do not end, for instance right now I need an affordable home heater, I am seeking solutions. So long as there are issues to solve there are jobs. Let no one cheat you. Just do your best in everything you do. All efforts must be rewarded,” she said.
There is hope.
Dr.Nyiva Mwinzi, a communication lecturer at the Technical University of Mombasa, noted that skills acquisition that matters at the end of the day.
“There is hope even for D students for they can redo the test to get an aggregate point that would help them get into an artisan level. There is hope for everyone and if all schools were well quipped, we won’t be having the issue of D- equipping,” she echoed.
Technically and Vocational Education Training (T.V.E.T), recently has been rekindled to absorb those who do not qualify to join Universities to help them advance and get equipped before being released to the market forces, on various sectors of the economy.
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