KENYA-BEYOND ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

04/EEN/012

Published on 28/09/2010

By KIUNDU WAWERU

Students of Visa Oshwal Academy Senior High were ecstatic as they received awards for excellence in final examinations after two years of study.

Finally, with the quality British curriculum education, they would join top universities and hopefully on graduation get highflying jobs.

But the guest of honour Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph, surprised them by telling them that "to make it in life, you need to achieve something more than a degree."

 

‘What?’ the students, parents and teachers may have wondered even as they listened keenly to their guest who is the epitome of success. You could here a pin drop as the CEO carried on: "You need much more than schooling to live your life’s ambitions."

An electrical engineer by profession, Joseph has steered Safaricom into the leading company in East Africa.

So what sets achievers, average performers and losers apart? Clearly, much more than books. One of the most revered educationists in the world proved this in her scientific observations.

A doctor, Maria Montessori started a new system of education that is also offered in Kenya. She believed that education is not what a teacher gives, but; "a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words, but by experiences upon the environment. The task of the teacher becomes that of preparing a series of motives of cultural activity, spread over a specially prepared environment, and then refraining from obtrusive interference."

Transmission

One of Montessori’s successes was having mentally handicapped children study for a state examination, which they passed with above average scores. "And if education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to hope for it in the bettering of man’s future. For what is the use When career counsellors met with over 900 high school students in Limuru, they were taken aback by how ignorant they were about careers.

Among the students was Dennis Thiongo a Form Three student at Thigio Boys High School who has has no idea what he needs to qualify for his dream career — engineering.

"I love design, and making and repairing gadgets, but I do not know how to nurture this passion into a career," he says.

Unlike his counterparts in the city who may access to information on careers from the Internet, he relies on his overworked guidance and counselling teacher who also handles her normal teaching load and other student problems.

Thiongo’s mother says she does not have much knowledge about careers, which renders her unable to mentor her son. "The best I can do is to struggle to pay school fees and encourage my son to work hard in his studies but I can not make an engineer out of him because I don’t know anything about engineering," she says.

Platform

Recently Mwathi Foundation and Broad Horizon Limited held a career exhibition at Ndungu Girls Secondary School in Limuru to encourage students to select the right careers.

Broad Horizons Operations Director Florence Njoroge says the event is an opportunity for the students, teachers and parents to think ahead. "Our mission is to provide a networking platform for educational and career stakeholders by bringing together successful former local students, prospective employers, institutions of higher learning, and Government educational bodies to the rural areas to enlighten and motivate students", she says.

The founder and Limuru constituency MP Peter Mwathi says that the foundation is committed to promoting education in Limuru by giving individuals a chance to achieve their career objectives.

He says lack of appropriate role models has been a big problem in the schools and at home and calls on parents, teachers, professionals to help nurture students to the right careers.

But Ms Mercy Njoroge an alumnus of Kambui High School says the various stakeholders lack the necessary training and exposure to assess and advise the students properly.

Roselyne Maina of The chartered Institute of Marketing, one of the key exhibitors believes that entrenching the value of professionalism among the youth is key to achievement of vision 2030.

"Students should embrace professionalism right from schools so as to fit into the various corporate cultures and Chartered Institute of Marketing has been enhancing professional standards by providing links to those who want to join professional bodies, " she says.

student abilities

According to Ms Julie Waweru of Compuera College, it is important to enlighten students on the opportunities available even for those who do not make it to the university. "Some students become disillusioned in life when they fail to join universities yet there are many opportunities", says the college administrator.

Ms Njoroge a teacher at St Mary’s Thigo, feels there is a disconnect between the choice of professional courses and the abilities of students. She says students want to join prestigious universities where the cut off points are high, yet they could have still joined other chartered institutes with lower cut off points. Gladys Wanjohi of Kenya Accountants and Secretaries National Examination Board, advises students to combine professions so as to be more marketable in the work place. "We have Doctors and lawyers who are accountants and MBAs," she said.

Students at a career exhibition held by Mwathi Foundation and Broad Horizon Limited in Limuru. [PHOTO: COURTESY].