Machakos: Form Stranded One pupil was readmitted without ever having to pay a dime.
A week after receiving her Form One admission at a Machakos school, the 14-year-old girl was sent home for unpaid fees and then readmitted. She recently begged for assistance with her studies.
Wednesday marked Domitila Mumbua’s return acceptance to Lukenya Girls Centre of Excellence Secondary School, where she had been enrolled since the beginning of the school year.
Two days after the Star publicized Mumbua’s situation, the school principal Carolyne Muema intervened and she was allowed to return.
Muema contacted the girl’s mother Joyce Katiku on Tuesday, giving her instructions to return to school so that her daughter can finish her studies while they search for sponsors or well-wishers to assist with her education.
The girl’s situation was brought to the attention of the Star Newspaper, and as a result, the principal stated, she was allowed to resume her studies without having to pay a single cent.
She claimed that after Mumbua’s mother brought her back to school with groceries, the instructors raised money for her shopping.
“We admitted her yesterday, but there has been no response. We had to earn money because her school shopping was so horrible, Muema remarked on Thursday.
“I made the mother an offer to work in the school, but she graciously turned it down, stating that her other children were attending day schools in Mlolongo town,” Muema stated.
The Lukenya Girls Centre of Excellence is situated in Mavoko, Machakos County, in a secluded part of Kinanie.
“I had accepted the daughter in January on the understanding that the mother would pay the admission cost on a weekly basis. Muema stated, “She never paid a single cent.”
Mumbua’s 346 points in the 2023 KCPE gave her admission to the public school. She took the exams at Mlolongo’s Ngwata Primary and Junior School.
Only a week after her admittance to the school, Katiku had already told the Star that her kid had been at home since January due to unpaid school payments.
The issue is that my daughter needs money to go back to high school. Katiku told the Star on Monday, “She was sent home for fees and only learned for a week, so she didn’t even sit for her first term’s exams.”
In Mavoko, Machakos County, the single mother of three resides in a one-room home at the Mlolongo Phase Three Estate with her kids.
According to her, the girl has two brothers: one in PP2 and the other in Form Two at Mlolongo’s St. Augustine Secondary School.
Katiku said that her work as a “mama fua” doing laundry was making it impossible for her to raise and educate the kids.
She claimed that the current economic climate had made it challenging to locate menial work in the Mlolongo division, where they currently dwell, and its surrounding areas.
The woman claimed that raising the Sh3,000 monthly rent for her house is equally challenging for her.
Given that she didn’t have a single coin when her daughter was admitted, she claimed she hadn’t paid anything at all to the school.
Katiku claimed that her attempts to ask several public offices and local authorities for assistance had been fruitless.
She hasn’t gone back to school since I gave her a quick shop for necessities without charging her a dime. I work as a clothes washer for locals and am paid very little, yet I’m unemployed,” Katiku remarked.
In order to pay the girl’s first term’s school tuition of Sh20, 368 and her second term’s school costs of Sh12, 161, Katiku asked her well-wishers to provide a hand. The third term costs Sh8,306 at the school.
The youngster will require approximately Sh160,000 to finish her four years of studies at the university, based on the tuition schedule that the Star was able to view.
The woman claimed to have recently spoken with the principal of the school, who approved the child’s admission without charging any money.
The Star learned about the girl’s dilemma on Monday after the reporter accidentally stumbled across a WhatsApp group run by a CBO in Mlolongo, whose members were having difficulty paying the girl’s school fees.
As of the time of publication, four users had each donated Sh500, suggesting that the trend of people using the site to raise the necessary funds to get their child back to school on time may not be real considering that classes had already started again.
The woman claimed that she had not yet paid her son’s St. Augustine school fees. The boy’s fees are Sh8, 500 this semester, and Sh7, 500 previous term. In a year, she will have to pay Sh18,000 for the boy’s tuition.
0700786444 is the phone number for Katiku.
Machakos: Form Stranded One pupil was readmitted without ever having to pay a dime.
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