Earlier this week, we interviewed Felix Muthure - our friend who works at Batian's View and a recent secondary school graduate. Listen to a segment of the interview and read the transcript and featured quotes below.
EH: Today we’re here with Felix, talking about what it’s like to go to secondary school in Kenya… Felix, if we could just start with you telling us a little bit about yourself. What are you doing now? What have you done since graduating from secondary school?
FM: …I do work at Batian’s View for the available jobs. Since I completed high school, I have been working at Batian’s View, but before I came here, I took computer classes and driving, and after that, I attended some interviews in Khaga Girls High School for a…scholarship at Nottingham University. But I didn’t qualify. I am matched Position 128 out of 2,500 countrywide [and, in the next round of interviews, Position 8 out of 1,500]. Up to now, I’m at Batian’s View.
“If you have attended secondary schools here in Kenya, your opportunities of getting a job are very high because you have two certificates...now what will be the problem is the amount you will get paid. ”
EH: Maybe you…could you tell us a little bit about your secondary school? Which one you went to? What it was like to go to class? What your teachers were like?
FM: I went to Naro Moru Boys High School. I took my four-year course there. My teachers were very good in teaching, but some were boring because they did not attend lessons. Then, after that, I took my Kenya National Examination- that is the national examination countrywide. We competed with a population of 500,000 students.
EH: When you were in class, did you feel motivated to learn? What… motivated you to keep studying and working hard?
FM: I used to work hard by the time I was in school, despite the fact that there were some strikes, and so we could not continue with the learning system. Students could strike. Sometimes, teachers could go for a strike for two or three months, and we would [end up staying] home since there were no teachers in school…I used to be in the library most of the time studying, but after school, I could come here to Batian’s View, and I used their library.
BG: You said the students can strike as well?…Wow, what would they strike for?
FM: They would strike, for example, their tuition fees. For example, per term, we are supposed to pay 2,500 [shillings of] extra money, but the teachers ordered the cost to [be] 5,600. Then, the students would strike because the teachers were not attending classes and yet were getting paid.
EH: For students that go to secondary school, what kind of opportunities do they have afterwards?
BG: As opposed to someone who has not gone to secondary school?
“Many of [the students who only attend primary school] ... end up in streets…Here, in this area, many of them will go to Nairobi and when they get there, they just don’t come back.”
FM: If you have attended secondary schools here in Kenya, your opportunities of getting a job are very high because you have two certificates- the primary school one and the high school one…[It is simple for] you to get an opportunity to go into a company compared to the guy who has not completed high school…because you’ll have the required certificate. But now what will be the problem is the amount you will get paid…No matter if you are working the same job, [a person with a more advanced certificate from a college or university] will get a higher salary.
BG: You see that in America too. If you have a high school diploma versus a four-year degree, if it’s the same job, the person with the four-year degree gets paid more.
EH: And how do most people find jobs?…If they are from Naro Moru, would they find a job here, or would they have to go to another city to look for something?
FM: …Here, when many candidates are done with their four-year course in high school, they will [head to] Nairobi because that’s where there are many job opportunities. But the cost of living there is very high…So, for example, you find, for example, that if you are being paid 7,000 [Kenyan Shillings] per month…maybe you’ll save only 500. Because…you have to rent a house.
EH: So…do some students not even have enough to go to Nairobi to look for a job?
FM: Now, it will depend if you will have relatives working there because they can support you as you even to look for the job. Not that there are always available jobs for the students, but you’ll just go there to look for one. If you don’t get it, you just come back.
“I thanked [my sponsor] because, if it were not for him, I wouldn’t have joined [secondary school].”
EH: So for people who don’t even go to secondary school at all—just graduate from Standard 8 and are done—what do they usually end up doing?
FM: For example, many of them, they end up in streets…Here, in this area, many of them will go to Nairobi and when they get there, they just don’t come back…Most of the students are not [financially] stable…to be in high school because you’ll find that, if they are not the rural classes—for example [attending] Irigithathi Secondary School—they will not have attended high school because the fees are very high…For example, at Irigithathi this term, [one family was] was paying 3,900 [shillings]. You’ll find parents struggling to pay, for example, 500, 400. When you’re sent home, you will pay something small, and then you will stay at school. After a certain period, you are sent home [again] and will [need to] get money.
EH: Do a lot of students get sponsored to go to high school?
FM: Now, it will depend on where one comes from. For example, like for my case, I was sponsored by a guy by the name Logan from U.S. He had promised to sponsor me for four years only, and I thanked him because, if it were not for him, I wouldn’t have joined [secondary school]…even if I have gone to Irigithathi…
BG: How often do you hear of people being sponsored by foreigners? Is your case the only one that you know of or do you know other people that have had similar sponsors?
FM: I have heard now of 4 cases.
EH: So if you do go to secondary school and then you end up do being able to apply for university, what is that process like?
“Funds are very hard to get … Going to a college, you’re not sponsored. You have to sponsor yourself”
FM: Graduating to university, it depends on the grade you take. For example, the total— the aggregate [score]— is 91 points…If you are in the category who got 80-something points, you will…get sponsored by various countries [like] Germany, France, and Sweden…They will sponsor you if they offer you a course. But the government will [only] sponsor from 75 and above… So many students will [still not be able to attend] because the money that they pay compared to [what] the government [pays is too much]- they will pay 90% and the government will only pay 10%.
EH: So, even if you get enough points, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll go?
FM: Yeah. Because the funds are very hard to get…Going to a college, you’re not sponsored. You have to sponsor yourself, but to [go to] a university, it will depend on the points you got.
EH: What do you think your plans are for the future in terms of your career? Your studies?
FM: I’m planning to look for a scholarship, if at all I’ll get one…The [national] universities in Kenya do not offer aviation or aeronautical engineering—that is the field [in which] I’d like to specialize. In case I get [a scholarship], I’ll join Nairobi Aviation College.