Meet KCSE C- Candidate Who Rose to Become Renowned Pilot After 27 Yrs
Tim Njiru Muriithi, a pilot and aviation industry expert, received a C- in his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), which seemed to derail his dreams.
Njiru, like the other candidates, was disappointed, as were his parents, who had invested substantially in his education.
On Friday, January 20, Njiru revealed that his marks irritated his parents so badly that they wanted him to repeat form 4.
“When I was young, I wanted to pursue a career in aviation; unfortunately, that was not the case, I got a C- (minus), ” Njiru stated during an NTV interview.
“Getting a C- was not a good thing as it disqualified me from what I wanted to pursue in life; my parents ordered me to repeat,” he added.
His parents were initially unhappy with his primary school achievements, particularly when he finished 45th out of 46 on the indexing exam.
“My grades from class 1 to class 8 were just average. When I got my index number, I was 45 out of 46. That was my class 8. I then sat my KCPE and got 410 marks out of 700. It was not a good performance,” Njiru narrated.
“That did not earn me a spot in any of the institutions I had already filled up for, meaning I had to go back with my family to figure it out,” he added.
Njiru, on the other hand, did not repeat to high school. Journalism became his backup plan once he was allowed to enroll at the reformed Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC).
“Kenya Institute of Mass Communication opened a parallel programme and it was at that point that I applied for it and I landed an admission,” Njiru insisted.
Njiru landed his first job after studying Broadcast Journalism at KTN, a Standard Television-owned media station, where he worked for almost a year without pay.His enthusiasm, though, pleased KTN’s administration, and he landed a TV presenting post.
“I started off at KTN as a researcher. I worked for a year and eight months without pay. KTN saw my hard work and gave me a role as a TV presenter for a children’s programme,” Njiru explained.
However, after 27 years, Njiru was given the opportunity to pursue an aviation education. He now holds a private pilot’s license but wishes to obtain a commercial license.
For nearly three years, Njiru has flown many planes in the country using his private pilot’s license.
Meet KCSE C- Candidate Who Rose to Become Renowned Pilot After 27 Yrs