14-year old boy in Kisumu scores 426 marks in KCPE, fears he will not join form one due to lack of fees.

 Byron Ochieng{R}, the top pupil at Pand Pieri primary school in Kisumu who has scored 426 marks in this year's KCPE.He says he will not be able to go to form one due to lack of school fees since his parents cant afford paying the fees.He is with his mother Dorothy Adhiambo-Photo By Dickson Odhiambo

 By Dickson Odhiambo.

November 21, 2018.

 14-year old boy in Kisumu scores 426 marks in KCPE, fears he will not join form one due to lack of fees.

A VISIT to Pand Pieri primary school within the sprawling slums of Nyalenda in Kisumu County today by a section of Journalists going round to check on how schools have performed in the just released results of the Kenya Certificate of Primary school education exams has revealed a lot.

In this school, there is a case of a 14-year old boy who has scored 426 marks in this year’s KCPE whose results were released on Monday this week by education cabinet secretary Amina Mohamed.

This is none other than Byron Ochieng who hails from the sprawling Nyalenda slums in Kisumu and has been studying at Pand Pieri Primary school which is a public school since his days at early childhood Education.

Ochieng says he has done well in this year’s KCPE exams because of hard work and dedication from teachers coupled with being fearful to God.

He says he aspires to join his dream school of Starehe Boys Center in Nairobi where he intends to study hard and pass highly, adding that he wants be an engineer after his University education.

Ochieng says his dreams hangs in the balance since his parents will not be able to pay his school fees at the secondary level, adding that both his elder brother and sister who also passed their KCPE exams highly have been taken to day schools after their parents could not afford paying fees at the national schools they were admitted to.

“I want to join my childhood dream school of Starehe Boys Center and study very hard so that I become an Engineer in future but this my dream seems to be shattered because my parents will not be able to take me there and pay my school fees,” Ochieng says.

According to his mother Dorothy Adhiambo Onyango, her third born child will not join the school of his choice after such an exemplary performance simply because of lack of school fees.

She says she has her two other children schooling at a day school within the area after she opted to take them there for their secondary education because she could not afford the fees needed at the extra county schools the two were admitted respectively.

“My daughter was to be admitted at Lwak Girls High School last year and my son was also to be admitted to an extra county school but this did not happen because of lack of school fees hence we opted to take them to Kassagam secondary school where they are now. This year again, my third born child has also done so well by scoring 426 marks but he will not be able to join the secondary school of his choice simply because we cannot afford to pay his school fees there,” Ochieng’s mother says.

Adhiambo says her husband is carpenter and this is what the family entirely depend on for survival, adding that she does some small business of selling charcoal within Nyalenda to also help in providing for the family.

She appeals to well-wishers to help her son join the secondary school to further his education and she can be reached through her mobile phone number 0712 97 09 42.

The school’s Head Teacher Mrs. Veronica Otieno has praised Ochieng terming him as a very disciplined and hardworking boy.

She says the Boy who has topped the school in this year’s KCPE used even to come to school a lone during weeks and plead with the security officer manning the school to be within the compound with an aim of wanting a quite environment to study.

“This boy used to come to school during weekends and holidays simply because he needed a conducive environment to study and we granted him this. He has not let us doing at all and we believe if he gets a chance in high school and his fees paid, he will not disappoint at all, “ Mrs. Otieno adds.

She says Ochieng has been a very bright boy right from nursery school days to date, adding that he has ever scored over 400 marks in all the exams he has been doing in school.

Otieno says the boy has managed to score 91 percent in Kiswahili which he complained to being too tough and was only his worry, adding that he managed to score 98 percent in Mathematics.

Otieno also appeals to anyone who can help the young boy in paying his secondary school fees, adding that he has great potentials.

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