I’m 13, I’m Smart, I worked Hard, I See A Future, Maybe Barrack Obama Can Help Me?

Dear Barrack,

I call you in first name terms because you are a child of our people, so don’t judge me yet. Get to the end. I am writing this because today, I believe that you’re the most powerful man on earth. I believe just a spoken word from you can change the way children are treated by the powers that be in Kenya.

I have just been talking to Judy, a pretty 12 year old, and she sounds shaky. Not just she, but there are 2 other children in my neighborhood who can’t even work up the nerve to talk to anyone. Their names are Chris and Omari. They sat their primary school exams in 2010 in private schools, but now at 13, they know that their future lies in the precipice because their parents were able to take them to private schools.

Ok, let me start at the beginning. Education, public or private, was expensive in Kenya before Mwai Kibaki, our president, came to power. When he knew he had the nation and the world hearing, he played his trump card; education was going to be free for anyone who could get their child into a public school. Of course the populace rushed there; it was free and reputed to be good. The result was bulging classrooms.

My friend, Mildred had to mark her son’s homework herself. She could see it. After a full day of being in class after class, the teacher had to mark 80 homework books. In a few weeks, the teacher was too exhausted to do this effectively and stopped marking any kind of homework, only giving it. Mildred realized that a public school was not the answer, got another job that could pay her better. She wanted to afford private schools, where her son could get the attention he needed. They were a bit on the steep side. I must admit that I have no idea where he went – I lost touch with Mildred.

Suddenly, the scenario is replaying itself all over again before my eyes. You see, last Sunday, Judy came to leave the keys at my place for her parents to find when they got home from church; she had to go to school for private tuition. The private school demands that she does so that she can make the mark required for that all important national school. I was shocked, and I asked her who said: she explained that although she will sit her exam next year, her school has to work extra hard on her for her to get there. She knows that those who set the deciding primary school exams are usually from national schools, and they will train their pupils in the very same questions that they set so that the government can save face. What knowledge for a child!

The week leading up to that Sunday, every news broadcast was about parents crying foul; they had done all they needed to do for their children to make the mark (the results had been released by the ministry) and yet when they did, the government made a public announcement that only the children from public schools would get admitted in national schools.

Oh, national schools; I went to one. They’re set up to give back to society the best that’s possible in a child. Ask the Ivy Leagues who they pick from Kenya and then compare it to the list of national schools that we have; its actually more than 90% I believe. All kids know to w0rk their way to a national school so that they can go to the best universities in the country and in the world. They are up at 4am and don’t get to bed until 11 am. They study every day and then they study more; they go to school on Sunday. They want to be the cream of the crop.

They have now done their exams and they have hit target – spot on. But national schools are now for those who attended public schools, places where classes are 70 or 80 to a class, homework is never seen, food is a scramble and discipline comes by luck. The 0nly mistake that Judy, Omari and Chris made was for their parents to understand that they needed one-on-one attention in learning and so took them to private schools – of course they paid more.

Omari and Chris, who sat the exam this year, are not outside with us any more. They stay indoors because they feel that they have failed; Cambridge, Cornell name it are a dream. They have been sent letters to join second grade high schools. True, some of them do eventually spit out brilliant children, but not very many. These kids feel that they have just gambled away their young fortunes.

Maybe, Obama, being who you are, can shine a light to guide us as a nation, show us the way, so that the next crop of leaders that we have is not all about “grab what you can now coz it wont last, coz you’re not worth it”?

I hope to hear from you.

Sincerely yours and I love you all,

Mutuo Mbilla