Pain of bright girl who scored 430 marks but can’t raise fees to join form one

Gloria Kerubo, who scored 430 marks in KCPE, with her grandmother Faith Kerubo at their Riamasagara home in Kisii. [Sammy Omingo, Standard]

With 430 marks out of the possible 500 in the 2018 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), Gloria Kerubo Masagara felt she was on top of the world.

After the short-lived celebration, the 14-year-old girl is now facing a bleak future after it turned out that she may not join her dream secondary school due to lack of fees.

As other children rushed to bookshops and uniform shops, Kerubo, who was abandoned by her parents at a tender age, was still pondering her next move after failing to secure scholarship from some of the major education financiers in the country.

Kerubo, who was among the top performers in Kisii County, has been holding her breath hoping a well-wisher will offer to pay her school fees to join Kenya High School.

She sat her KCPE at Nyambunwa Academy in Kisii South where she had been topping her class for four straight years.

Her story is that of hope, determination and endurance. Her mother is alleged to have abandoned her eight months after birth. Three years later, her father followed suit.

She was left under the care of her grandmother Faith Kerubo.

“The only mother I have known in my 14-year journey is my grandmother. She has been there for me all thorough no matter how difficult the situation has been,” says Kerubo.

“When I joined the school in class four, I was last due to stress from home but I quickly adjusted and have all through managed to top in my class since then.”

She adds: “I want to change the narrative that the poor cannot make it in life... All I want is to  find somebody who can offer me a shoulder to lean on.”

Her grandmother says that she has struggled to feed, clothe and educate Kerubo for 14 years and she will never regret the decision she took.

“She is a gift from God and I will never abandon her. It was hard to break the sad news to her that her mother had abandoned her when she was still an infant,” said the grandmother.

After submitting her documents to various organisation, Kerubo hopes that she will be considered and offered an opportunity from among the available sponsors.

And in Migori, Nathan Omondi, 13, who scored 403 marks in the examinations is also facing a bleak future over inability to raise school fees.

Omondi attended Milimani Hill-Crest Academy after he earned a scholarship, and has since received admission to Kisii School.

“I have visited for scholarship but they have not assisted me because the boy was learning in a private school where he had been sponsored by the school administration due to his good performance,” said his mother Grace Akinyi, a peasant.