Mercy Chepkorir, 40 years old, was one of the 19% of students who passed the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Exam (KCSE). This exam qualifies for university placement.
Despite the many obstacles Ms. Chepkorir had to overcome in her education, she is happy that she is one of 173, 345 students who will be attending university to continue their studies.
We visited her home in Narok County, Total. The middle-aged woman was still celebrating after she received a C+ (plus).
She told the story of her bitter education journey, saying she dropped out from school in 2001 after finishing primary school. Her failure to pay school fees for secondary school led to her dropping out.
“After completing my KCPE in 2001, my parents could not pool resources to educate me in secondary school as they were too poor,” she recalled bitterly.
This forced the young girl, who was only nine years old, to stay home and help her parents with their household chores. She also had to take on casual jobs to earn a livelihood.
“During this time, I worked as a house girl and later as a casual labourer in the tea plantations so that I could raise money to feed my family,” she said.
She stated that she felt a deep passion for education during this period and wished that she could one day return to class to complete her fourth grade education.
Her dream was not realized immediately. She was later blessed with two children and was married at a tender young age.
Her marriage didn’t last long. Her husband died while she was still a young mother, making it more difficult for her to care for her children.
“My husband was the breadwinner to my young family. He passed on when my children were about to join school making life more difficult for us,” she reiterated, recalling how she used to spend her entire day working at the tea plantations to earn a living.
Ms. Chepkorir, just before the onset Covid-19, decided to return to school to satisfy her deep-rooted desire to learn.
Although she was not celebrated, she recalled that her decision to move to Community Development was a passion of hers.
“I went back to school after almost 20 years old. This time round, I had a responsibility of keeping tubs on my children who were now teenagers, providing for their needs and revising,” she said.
She was forced to work in a quarry at one point. There she spent her days crushing stones to provide for her family.
“I used to sleep late in the night and wake up early in the morning in order to revise for the exams. My teachers and fellow students were of great help to me,” she said.
Ms. Chepkorir believes this will motivate her children, now in secondary school. She hopes that their mother’s success will inspire them to study hard and get better marks than their mother.
Dr. Joshua Kimanzi is the principal of Nacace High School. Ms. Chepkorir was once a student of the school. He said that she was humble and put a lot of effort into education.
Kimanzi said that despite having to struggle to pay school fees, her focus was on her work and she engaged with the teachers whenever she had a problem.
The school is an adult learning center with 45 students who averaged 7.9 points.
Samuel Leyian who worked at the quarry alongside Ms. Chepkorir stated that he was both surprised and excited by her performance.
“At first, I thought they were joking. Ms. Chepkorir scoring a C+ is a great encouragement for those of us who have not completed secondary education. She used to spend most of the time at the quarry yet she passed very well,” he said.
Data from the Ministry of Education shows that the number of students joining university from last year’s exam has risen from 145, 776 (2021) to 173, 345 students in 2022.
By Ann Salaton
Source: kenyanews
