Geoffrey Ng’ania sat his first KCSE exams in 1989 and scored a C+ and joined Moi University where graduated fours year later. He later pursued a master’s degree. Last year, he surprised many when he enrolled as a private KCSE candidate at Central Primary School in Eldoret.
He wanted a second opportunity to determine whether he could perform better than 26 years ago. “It’s unfair to be given one opportunity to sit an examination that will determine many things in the rest of your life,” said Geoffrey Ng’ania in an interview on Citizen TV.
But the father of three scored a D+, a drop from the C+. With a D+, he has to work his way to university through tertiary colleges by starting off with a certificate course. According to the KCSE 2015 results released by Education Cabinet Fred Matiangi, only 31.52% (165,766) of the candidates attained minimum university entry mean grade of C+ and above. About 525,802 candidates registered for 2015 KCSE exams; a rise from 485,547 in 2014. Number of candidates with mean grade of A (plain) dropped from 3,073 in to 2,636 in 2015.
The Assistant Programme Officer at the Bible Translation and Literacy (BTL) in charge of Western Kenya, chose to re-sit the same exam last year to motivate a group of private students he has been working with over the years to go back to school.
Mr Ng’ania who has encouraged over 100 drop-outs from his Sabaot community to re-join school, got a D+ in his second attempt at KCSE, three grades lower than what he managed to get 26 years ago. “I am so elated, I did well considering that I started studying in March last year after registration. I did nine subjects,” said Ng’ania, who was among the top private students in his class of 67.
“I had to juggle between work and family. I took a month long leave to prepare for the exams in the final month.”
He told the The Standard that a relatively high number of those he convinced to register as private candidates failed to clear their studies, prompting him to make up his mind to find out what ailed them by personally enrolling for the exams.
“I now have experience on what they undergo. The lessons I learnt will inform me in my campaigns to encourage people who missed a chance to do KCSE to try again,” said Ng’ania , who in 2011 constructed a school for adult learners at his farm in Kinyoro, Saboti Constituency.
Since the establishment of the Mima Adult Education Centre, Ng’ania has been a volunteer teacher, with the first group of students sitting for the secondary National examinations in 2013. According to data from the ministry of education, there are a total of 1,444 examination centres for private students across the country.
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