The air is still buzzing with celebration following the results of the 2024 KCSE exams and as for Eric Maina, a 19-year-old onion seller at the bustling Kiawara Market in Nyeri County, his joy is far from over.
He is among dozens of sellers who unload heavy sacks of onions and sort them for sale along the busy Nyeri-Nyahururu highway, a job he has done for five years.
Raised in a low income household, Eric was compelled by circumstance to take on the demanding job, to cover his school fees and remain in school.
“I would come here every day after school around 6pm and leave by 9pm to give myself enough time to complete my homework,” he recalled in an interview with a local newspaper.
Thereafter, he would study well into the night, often retiring to bed close to midnight.
Five years later, Eric’s remarkable efforts have paid off handsomely as he emerged the top student at St George Secondary School, scoring a B plain of 66 points in the 2024 KCSE.
On some occasions, the money he made could not fully cover causing him to rely on the generosity of his relatives and the community to make up for the shortfall.
“Out here, life is not easy, on a good day I would earn at most Sh300, while on other days, I returned home empty handed,” he said.
As a firstborn in a single- parent family, he was also had to take on the responsibility of supporting his mother and his younger siblings. His mother is a hawker in Githurai, Nairobi, selling coffee to make ends meet but more frequently, the money was not enough to cater for the family’s basic needs.
Due to the financial hardship at home, Eric’s academic journey took a hit, as after scoring 271 marks in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams in 2019, his family could not afford his school fees which sent him to seek work immediately after sitting his exams.
“I started hustling right after class eight and managed to join form one in the third term,” he recalled, “I am grateful to my principal, who admitted me even though I didn’t have school fees for that term.”
Eric made his first attempt at the KCSE exams in 2023 and scored a C plain of 39 points. Unsatisfied with the results, he chose to register and attempt the exams one more time.
“People thought I was crazy for wanting to go back, especially since I could barely meet my basic needs at home. I returned to my former school and requested a chance to repeat the year,” the onion trader stated, revealing his desire to pursue a degree in Computer Science.
Luck was on his side as the institution waived his lunch fees being a day scholar. This left him with only his personal upkeep to worry about.
During this second stint at school, he discovered that four of his former classmates had also chosen the same path, repeating Form Four in pursuit of better grades.
They banded together with one goal in mind, to get better grades. Along the way, a deep friendship blossomed, forged out of shared struggles and a collective determination to rewrite their academic stories.
During the holidays, Eric and his group gathered at the school compound to study, and their efforts were soon rewarded with each member registering a better grade.
The school’s Principal Mwangi Wambugu acknowledges that achievements would be impossible were it not for the school’s nurturing environment and commited teaching staff.
“Our teachers played a key role by providing continuous guidance and counselling throughout the year. To ensure they stayed on course, we assigned them to different teachers for personalized support,” he noted.
