When Education Cs Dr Ezekiel Machogu announced the 2022 KCSE results earlier this year, there was no shortage of joy and celebration among students and their families across Kenya.
Among the ecstatic achievers was Clinton Mutwiri, a student from Anguine Secondary School in Meru. With an A- of 79 points, he was announced as the third-best student countrywide in the sub-county schools category.
With his face plastered across national newspapers and televisions, Clinton’s success was a moment of great pride for him and his family. However, barely four months later, his dream of being a doctor has hit a seemingly insurmountable roadblock.
Upon receiving his KCSE results, Clinton was offered admission at Kabarak University to pursue a degree in clinical medicine. However, the dream quickly turned into a harsh reality as he realized the financial challenges that lay ahead.
Kabarak University demanded a staggering fee of Ksh 110,000 per semester for the clinical medicine course, an amount that seemed astronomical given the economic hardships faced by the family.
Raised in a home where even putting food on the table is a daily struggle, Clinton knew that this amount was beyond his family’s means.
Speaking to Citizen TV on Wednesday about his family’s financial situation, Clinton said, “We have been surviving by doing menial jobs. My mother is a casual laborer who does house chores for others to make ends meet. The little money she gets is only for food.”
He added that the dire situation has forced him and his brother to seek work at timberyards and construction sites but to no avail.
Faced with the harsh reality that Kabarak University was financially out of reach, he sought to enroll at Kenya Methodist University (KEMU), where the tuition fees are relatively lower.
However, even at KEMU, he faced a substantial financial hurdle. The university required him to pay 40% of the fees upfront, a challenge he currently has no means of meeting. KEMU charges sh 84 500 per semester for continuing students.
Despite pleading with the university management to allow him to defer payments until he secured a HELB loan, KEMU has insisted on the upfront payment. Clinton’s dreams of becoming a doctor have been put on hold indefinitely, and his hope is slowly dwindling.
“I have now decided that the way things are, I’ll just have to look for a job that will enable me to survive until the day God will open doors. I’ve been hopeful, but now it seems like my hope of becoming a doctor is fading,” he told Citizen TV.
His mother also narrated how she has struggled to raise the family. A single mother, she has done her best to educate the two siblings.
At one point, Clinton had to repeat a grade because she couldn’t afford to send both of them to high school and cover the circumcision expenses simultaneously.
His high school education was a result of Anguine Secondary School principal’s generosity to accommodate him after spotting him walking to school at the ungodly hour of 4 a.m.
