Paul Njoroge defied what looked like insurmountable odds to produce a performance for the records during the 2024 KCSE examinations. Njoroge had scored 288 marks out of the possible 500 marks when he sat for his KCPE in 2016.
About eight years later, Njoroge produced a grade of A Plain with 84 points during the 2024 KCSE examinations.
Apparently, after Njoroge sat for his KCPE at Gacharage Primary School, he stayed at home for about one year due to lack of school fees. When some of the fees became available, he joined Muhoho High School. He did not stay in school for long and dropped out while in Form Two due to lack of fees.
He took this time to look after his mother who had fallen critically ill with cancer. He would take care of his mother until she succumbed to illness. During his mother’s funeral, the deputy principal at Kangui Day Secondary School in Murang’a urged him to resume his studies.
He heeded this call and enrolled at Kangui in 2022 in Form Two to pick up from where he had dropped off. One year later, while in Form Three, he was sent home due to lack of fees. He spent nearly the whole of that term at home.
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Seeing that the he was on the verge of falling through the cracks, the administration and teachers at Kangui decided to let him study for free. They also converted a kitchen that was not in use at the school into a room and asked him to stay there to ease the pressures of making a livelihood that his father was experiencing.
Their sacrifices have now been handsomely rewarded. Njoroge has emerged as one of the top pupils not only in Murang’a County but also nationally.
Njoroge says that he is aiming to pursue a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Nairobi. Although he is not sure how he will afford the high university fees that come with pursuing this course, Njoroge is hopeful that well-wishers will answer his prayer for a breakthrough.
