Long road from Untrained Teacher to PhD

By John Kariuki

In staffrooms across Nyandarua and Laikipia districts, the name Dr John Kanjogu Kiumi invokes awe in many teachers.

The chairman of the curriculum department at Laikipia University College exemplifies the adage ‘education pays’.

By sheer determination and force of character, Kanjogu has beaten the odds and risen from an untrained primary school teacher to a PhD degree holder.

"Many people, including close friends, thought I was doing the wrong thing by studying for many years instead of amassing wealth," says Kanjogu, who has been a teacher for 30 years.

But he is happy with his choices. His children are pursuing higher education and he has a stable job and income now.

Having missed joining university by one point in 1981 after his ‘A’ levels, Kanjogu became an untrained teacher at Ol Joro Orok Primary School in Nyandarua West District, where he taught geography, history and civics.

In 1982, while teaching at Madaraka Primary School, in the same district, he privately re-sat the ‘A’ level examination.

Doctor Kanjogu with his wife after he received his PhD in Education Administration last year. [PHOTOS: COURTESY]

He passed and enrolled at Kamwenja Teachers’ Training College in 1983, graduating with a PI teacher’s certificate in 1985.

Soon, the allure of teaching began to fade when he realised it was near impossible to get promoted.

"I swore I would never canvass for a promotion but climb up the career ladder myself," he says.

And a golden opportunity presented itself in 1986 when the University of Nairobi announced its first extended degree programme.

Kanjogu applied and in 1987 enrolled for a Bachelor of Education (BEd) degree in history and geography.

The primary school teacher soon realised he would have to move to a secondary school, for this is where he would do his teaching practice under the BEd programme.

"I approached the District Education Officer of Nyandarua asking for redeployment to a secondary school. But the man had neither heard of the extended degree programme nor such a request!"

However, the officer sanctioned his request and in 1988 Kanjogu moved to Kangui Secondary School. He graduated with an upper second class honours degree in 1993.

Got a scholarship

The following year, he applied for and got a scholarship to undertake a Masters degree in Educational Administration and Planning at the same institution. He completed in 1999. He remained in Kangui where he taught history.

"I won many trophies and Kangui was always between number one and three in the district in history for all the years I handled it," he says.

In 2001, he applied for a part-time job at Egerton University.

"I began teaching Planning and Economics in Education to undergraduates and postgraduates."

In 2003 he became a full-time lecturer and left Kangui.

The previous year, he had applied for a doctorate at Egerton. He finished his studies in Education Administration in 2008 and graduated last year.

Kanjogu has co-authored Planning and Economics of Education, with Professor LW Chiuri. This book is a standard text in the teaching of education for both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in several universities in the country.

He is currently writing another book, Law in Education, with a colleague. He has also published scholarly articles in academic periodicals.