Mandera father of 16 scores 355 marks in KCPE 

Isack Alio Shamo, 51, a father of 16 decided to go back school after drought wiped out his livestock. For the past four years, he has been a student at Takaba Adult Education Centre in Mandera West.

When the results for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) were announced Thursday in Nairobi, he waited with bated breath since his daughter had also been a candidate.

“I went to school because I missed the opportunity in my childhood, which was spent in the fields looking after my father’s livestock,” Mr Shamo said.

His assignment tending to camels meant he was always far from home and for extended periods of time.

“Tending camels is a difficult job requiring you trek far from home in search of pasture and water. You don’t return home every evening like those looking after goats and sheep,” he said.

When the last KCPE examinations kicked off October 30, Mr Shamo was not worried saying that he was well prepared before he left home.

“English has been my best subject in which I scored 63 marks. Nonetheless, I loved all the subjects taught at the education centre,” he says.

Mr Shamo scored 70 in Mathematics, 75 in Science, 75 in Social Studies and 70 in Kiswahili.

“I realised that having an education is important and is key to everything in life and therefore, I am doing everything possible to educate all my children,” a husband of three women said.

Despite managing a good score that can place him in a good secondary school outside Mandera, Mr Shamo says he is not ready to abandon his family.

“Joining secondary school outside Takaba will be extremely difficult for us. I need to be around to provide for my large family,” he said.

Used to operate a handcart

He called on the national government to employ more teachers for the adult programme in Mandera so that if there were more adults graduating to secondary, they would transition together.

“I can only attend school from 7pm to 10 pm because I have to provide for my family. I used to operate a handcart in town but I now have a small shop and need to be close to my family since I am the breadwinner,” he said.

His daughter, Shamso Alio scored 384 marks beating her father hands down.

He appealed to well-wishers to come to sponsor his daughter’s education for the next four years.

“My daughter did well in her examinations and I know she will be called to join a good school but I cannot afford her school fees. I am asking whether the county and national government can help me educate my daughter as struggle to fend for other children,” he said.

He hopes to sit his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in 2027.

“I am determined to sit my KCSE in 2027 and thereafter apply for a job in government to support my family,” he says.

Mr Shamo challenged other adults in Mandera to join school so that they can have better lives.

Illiteracy in Mandera County stands at 70 percent according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Isaack from Baragothey Primary in Wajir County topped the North Eastern Region with 411 marks followed by Nesteha Abdi Ahmed with 410 marks of Excel Integrated Academy in the same county.

Abdimajid Muhumad Maalim of Lafey Boarding Primary in Mandera emerged third in the region with 408 marks followed by Sundus Mohamed Shafi of Al-Azar Primary in Garissa County with 407.