Education officials have identified and rectified an error that caused the placement of a Form 1 girl at a boys’ boarding school.
Gloria Adhiambo Owino, who ranked first in her class at Nyalgunga Primary School in Alego Usonga Sub County, was admitted to Lenana Boy’s High School, confusing both the student and her parents.
Hours after the media brought attention to her plight, Siaya Sub-County Director of Education Maurice Saka and Deputy County Commissioner Robert Ng’etich rushed to the student’s rescue.
They transported the candidate and her parents to Ng’iya Girls High School, another national school in Siaya. The school’s headmistress, Hellen Owino, stated that she had officially requested that Gloria be placed at Ng’iya.
“I have already requested and possibly it will be granted. For national schools, all the placements are done at the ministry head offices in Nairobi,” said Owino.
“I am confident that she will receive an official calling letter from Ng’iya Girls.”
Error Leading to Placement at Lenana
The 14-year-old, who scored 389 points in KCPE, had expressed a wish to study at Alliance, Kisumu, or Starehe Girls Schools.
Siaya Sub-County Director of Education Maurice Saka revealed that the error occurred during the registration process.
“When she was registered, there was a mistake in the gender. Instead of registering her as female, she was mistakenly registered as male, which led to the confusion. However, we want to assure the candidate and her parents that she will be placed in a national school for which she is qualified,” said Saka.
The family’s biggest challenge now is figuring out how to raise the fees required for the national school.
“My daughter is bright and has a promising future, but I don’t have the financial means to keep her in a national school where she will be admitted,” said Mr Fredrick Owino, Gloria’s father.
The student may not have gotten her wish, but she was nonetheless happy about joining Ng’iya.
“Ng’iya is a beautiful school and I am looking forward to learning and fulfilling my dreams here,” Adhiambo said.
