40-Year-Old Woman Overcomes Obstacles to Secure University Admission
40-year-old Mercy Chepkorir is one of the 19% of students that took the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination in 2022 and qualified for university placement.
Ms. Chepkorir is happy to be among the 173, 345 students who will continue their education at a university, despite the multiple obstacles she experienced on her educational journey.
When KNA visited her home in Total area, Narok County, the middle-aged woman was still in a jubilant mood after receiving a grade of C+ (plus) on her most recent exam.
She recounted her arduous educational journey, explaining that she dropped out of school in 2001 after finishing primary school because she could not afford secondary school.
“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 compelled the young woman to remain at home, assisting her parents with domestic tasks and doing menial jobs to make a living.
“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 throughout this time she had a strong passion for education and wanted she could return to class and complete her form four education.
However, her goal did not come true immediately, as she was wed at a young age and subsequently gifted with two children.
Her marriage was short-lived, as her husband passed away when her children were still very little, making her life more difficult as she was forced to raise her children by herself.
“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.
Prior to the commencement of Covid-19, Ms. Chepkorir chose to return to school to satisfy her insatiable thirst for education.
She recalled that despite the unpopularity of her decision, she was compelled to return to class at an advanced age to pursue a degree in Community Development.
“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.
In order to pay for her family, she was compelled to work in a quarry, where she spent the majority of her day crushing stones.
“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 feels that her children, who are currently in secondary school, will be motivated to study diligently so that they can score higher marks than their mother.
Dr. Joshua Kimanzi, the principal of Nacace High School, where Ms. Chepkorir was a student, said that she was a modest woman who put much effort to her education.
Kimanzi stated that despite her struggle to pay school fees, she remained focused and engaged her teachers whenever she had an issue in class.
The school, which is a center for adult education, has 45 students with a mean grade of 7.9 points.
Samuel Leyian, who worked at the quarry alongside Ms. Chepkorir, was both shocked and energized by her performance, he said.
“At first, I thought they were joking. For Ms. Chepkorir to score a C+ is an encouragement to some of us who did not complete their secondary education. She used to spend most of the time at the quarry yet she passed very well,” he said.
According to data from the Ministry of Education, the number of students going to university with last year’s exam students has increased from 145,776 in 2021 to 173,345 in 2022.
40-Year-Old Woman Overcomes Obstacles to Secure University Admission