Why village primary school is on its deathbed

By Crazy Writer

I get amused when I hear politicians lambasting statistics issued by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. You see, they don’t know Chris Alufwani.

I haven’t seen the man since 1986. But I have heard it rumoured that he spends his days poring over figures and whatnot at Herufi House. Now, if Alufwani says the square root of HIV is 10, I would take the matter as gospel truth. I know. I went to school with him.

The bugger was a genius, simple. During mathematics lessons, it was only him and the teacher who knew what the hell those nutty figures on the blackboard meant.

　

double maths

My point? Alufwani was born in the village. He went to village primary and secondary schools. But that didn’t stop his brain from developing into the tractor engine that catapulted him to Alliance High School and the University of Nairobi where he read some crazy thing called double maths or something to that effect.

And he’s not alone. If you listen to virtually every permanent secretary, topnotch lawyer, captain of industry and journalist today, you won’t fail to discern their tribal ancestry. So embedded are their village roots that no amount of schooling at foreign universities could wash their mother tongue away. They call the shots today, yes, but their roots can be traced to a windowless primary school where they fought it out with jiggers and other vermin. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for a village child or his mate in Eastlands to rise by his bootstraps to national fame. Academies are the in-thing. It is their candidates that steal the thunder while village kids are consigned to herding goats.

Twangs at Harvard

Thus, in 10 years, chances that authentic villagers like Joseph Kinyua, Raila Odinga and Kilemi Mwiria, or hardnosed Eastlanders like PLO Lumumba, will amount to anything are a pipe dream. In their place will be chaps who were weaned in an expensive academy before polishing their twangs at Harvard — at their parents’ cost, of course.

Now, I have nothing against a hardworking Kenyan giving the best to his children. What I cannot accept is the lie that a village lad can’t outgun his colleague in an academy. Tell them Kinyua — you never stepped into anyone’s academy. You just had tough primary school teachers who caned economics into your head.

 

 

Read all about: KNBS Herufi House University of Nairobi

 

 

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