×
The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization with investments in media platforms spanning newspaper print operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The Standard Group is recognized as a leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in matters of national and international interest.
  • Standard Group Plc HQ Office,
  • The Standard Group Center,Mombasa Road.
  • P.O Box 30080-00100,Nairobi, Kenya.
  • Telephone number: 0203222111, 0719012111
  • Email: [email protected]

My late father gave the principal two donkeys: How I started Awasi Academy

News
 Peter Amollo (inset) Director of Awasi Hills View Academy [Photo: Courtesy]

Forty-six years ago, a child was born at Katito, Agoro East village in Kisumu County to a poor family whose source of income were two donkeys.

He was the fourth born in a family of six. His late father was a casual worker while his late mother was a sickling.

Today, Peter Amollo is Director of Awasi Hills View Academy, a day school for pre-primary and primary education.

Despite facing tough conditions at home, Amollo went to Kowire Primary and later Awasi Mixed Secondary School in 1990.

While schooling, life became even tougher and he spent most of his days looking after their two donkeys.

In Form Three, Amollo was sent home for school fees and his father, aving no cash decided to give the school his two donkeys.

“I vividly remember the day my late father gave the principal two donkeys because he had no money to clear my school fee arrears. I felt embarrassed being sent away in front of teachers and my fellow students but I never lost hope,” Amollo said, adding that impressed by his determination, the principal allowed him to study for free.

Unfortunately, after high school, Amollo became a casual labourer at a sugarcane plantation, just like his father. He joined Chemelil Sugar Company to weed sugarcane plantation but quit the job over a toe injury.

Amollo moved to Nairobi and worked at construction sites for one year before joining a steel company as a clerical officer in 1996.

 Awasi Hills View Academy [Photo: Courtesy]

Meanwhile, he saved from his Sh10,000 monthly salary and enrolled at Augustana College in Nairobi to study basic special education

“I saw how people with special needs; people with learning disabilities being shaped into productive persons. People with abnormally heavy tongues began talking. I saw people transform tremendously,” Amollo told CityBiz. “I realised that anyone could learn and be productive and the idea of setting up an academy came up.”

He also learnt about school management hoping to start his own.

And in 2010, Amollo secured a bank loan and bought Awasi Hills View Academy from its initial founders who had run out of funds during construction.

The school, which sits on five acres had only three grass-thatched classrooms. Amollo took another Sh7.5 million loan saying that, “starting a school is what was always on my mind. So when my friend told me he was selling his school, I went to the bank and borrowed money. I put the school itself as security in order to be granted the loan. And I am very happy because I’ve managed to touch people’s lives through education ever since,” said the father of four.

When CityBiz visited the school located in Muhoroni Sub-county, they were celebrating 2018 KCPE examination results.

 Awasi Hills View Academy [Photo: Courtesy]

Judging from the academic results seen by this paper, Awasi Hills View Academy has consistently performed well since 2010. In the 2018 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) they managed a mean grade of 343.47.

Awasi Hills View Academy now has 13 classrooms, two school vans, 15 teachers and eight subordinate staff members.

“We are very happy with this school in this region because it is proving to be a giant in academics.

“We have a policy of not offering any scholarships to private schools but when a girl scored 411 marks from this school, we had to bend rules and sponsor her.

“No one had attained those marks in the region,” said Morris Ngeta, the Member of County Assembly for Awasi-Onjiko Ward.

Related Topics


.

Popular this week

.

Latest Articles