My passion for teaching

 

I am a teacher by choice. Throughout my childhood, I used to listen to the news whenever I had a chance. Most coverages about Africa indicated a continent in trouble. I decided that I needed to contribute to changing this. Then, I had no idea what I was committing to and this led me to be the principal at Nova Pioneer Boys’ Secondary School – Eldoret

It wasn’t until when I was  in Form Two while listening to a motivational speech, where one of my teachers shared the quote; ‘if you want to change a nation, then the way to do that is through improving the quality of education of its people.’ This is what I needed to make up my mind to land on teaching as a career path. This is a choice that I made while young and vowed to pursue it.

When I was in high school, my teacher would task me with remediation as a group leader. All those students in my group would fully grasp the work assigned to me. I realized then that I can teach somebody. 

Before joining the university, I had a choice to make and I asked my parents to guide me on a career choice. However, my father told me that the best advice he would give is that I needed to decide for myself and choose something that I enjoy doing and is easy for me to do. 

I believe that Africa can and will take its rightful place in the competitive global economic arena if we prepare the current generation with the right mindset. I am a Pan Africanist because I believe in the African century.

 

Memorable moments

 

I’m a firm believer in building leaders. One of my students who had just joined the university as an undergraduate was seeking the position of the vice president of the student union and called me to ask for my advice. I told her to go for it. 

She eventually won the seat and made history. It was the first time a first-year student was elected for the second senior-most role of the student governing council. From that time, I have lost track of the number of my students who have served in student councils in both local and international universities. 

Another similar occurrence was when I was in the classroom when the KCSE national results were released in 2014, and I got a ring from one of my students thanking me for changing her life. I got confused. She explained that finally, her talent had an opportunity to thrive. She was a struggling student who we had to tailor teaching approaches to enable her to learn.

She got superior grades in the national examination which enabled her to pursue a career at a college which offers an opportunity for her to explore her talent.  

 

A day in the life of the Nova Pioneer Boys Eldoret campus  Principal

 

I consider myself lucky to be residing within the school compound. I wake up at 5:30 am and get ready. By 6:00 am, I join the young Novaneers for their morning preps and transition with them to the morning tea and Baraza. 

I get the privilege of listening to the young Novaneer leaders as they encourage each other. Eventually, the opportunity to address them which normally assumes the form of a motivational speech to start their day. The end of the Baraza gives way to the first lesson. I take a morning school walkthrough joined by the deans to ensure a good start to the day. I believe that ‘things don’t just go right, they must start right’. I settle back into the office to get some desk time responding to emails. A typical day is a swing between lesson observation, holding feedback meetings with teammates, coaching teachers, and attending other administrative meetings and duties. 

My day ends on a high note in the field with the students having fun playing various games- I play table tennis and badminton. During club days, I get to meet students as they interact through club activities. Even now, given virtual learning, I get to join some clubs like Model United, French and learn how they are progressing, as it is also important that they get to know their principal.

 

People who have influenced my journey

 

Former managing director of Nova pioneer Kenya, Danae Pauli, held my hand and believed in me at a time when I’d little faith in myself. She kept on pointing me to these great people and resource materials I would tap into for my growth in competency and culture.  

Craig Kielburger, a Canadian philanthropist and founder of We Charity. Craig taught me the value of following your heart even when the odds are not to your favor.  

Karren Okari is a lady who held my hand through high school. She took her time to nurture my leadership by giving me a chance to take risks. She eventually gave me a chance to start the Margaret Okari foundation right after my graduation that was an eye-opener and marked the journey to my education leadership

 

Mr. Meraba outside the classroom

 

I am a father of three and enjoy family company whenever I’m not at work. Seeing my two daughters and son grow has been rewarding with lessons on youth that impact my role. 

I also like reading books on leadership and motivation. On average, I read about one book a week when not very engaged. Motivating youth and keeping fit by regular long walks are other things I enjoy doing. 

 

Powering through challenges

 

The current trends with Covid 19 resulting in the loss of substantive on-campus  learning time and the uncertainty about schools re-opening have impacted the school community in ways I had not imagined. My Leading through tough times has been tested more now than ever before. However, Nova Pioneer has a great culture, and when the entire school community lives to the ideals of our culture principles, great things happen. I see growth every day. 

 

My hope for my students

Being the found principal at Nova Pioneer Boys’ School, Eldoret, I have so much hope and aspirations for my students. 

I hope they will go-ahead to pursue careers of their choice, rising to leadership. Others will pursue their talents or business. They will ideate and question every knowledge they gain. Eventually, they will graduate to offer service to humanity. They will do this by harnessing their talent, careers, or business ideas. They will serve the African continent and the world and will be true leaders, Innovators, and job creators. Serving at a time when the call to think on their feet will pay off will propel them to greater heights in transforming the world.

My journey and decision to enroll my son Yasin at Nova Pioneer was not an easy one, for lack of better words, I would say it all started in earnest. Assessing some of the traditional factors a lot of families I know consider as metrics in selecting High Schools it was clear that this choice was very unconventional. 

Yasin emerged among the top candidates in the 2019 K.C.P.E exams in Bungoma County. He scored 426 marks and was offered a much coveted spot at The Alliance High School. My friends, colleagues and family members thought I had lost my mind to forego that chance for Nova Pioneer. Most of them had never heard about the school and kept wondering how I would afford it. 

In light of the societal pressure that came with my son joining Nova Pioneer, I have spent the first half of this year reflecting on his experience so far and what he has been able to achieve, and my heart is filled with immutable joy and pride. As much as the Ministry of Education has declared this academic year null, the virtual learning experience he has gained in the past five months will never be taken away from him. He is better prepared for the information age. 

 

Yasin’s Nascent Interests and How We Got Here

 

Since childhood, Yasin has always been very inquisitive and curious about machines. I remember how he would make makeshift airplanes from carton boxes. Yasin’s favourite tv channel has always been the discovery family ‘Ultimate car build off’ Henceforth, I discovered that Yasin had a  passion for engineering. He had the ability to focus and concentrate on his projects for long. 

As a child, he turned our study room into his mini workshop where he would stay all day and late into the night working on his inventions whenever he was not attending school. Having paid close attention to his consistency and resolve, I was always left with many questions: what do I want for my son? Why do I want it? How do I make it happen? It was clear to me that a more unique educational approach would give him better exposure and develop his passion. 

When Yasin was 11 years old his passion for engineering had developed so much that he insisted on going for the National Science and Engineering fair which was held at Kibabii High School in Bungoma. Whenever I would go with him to the school where I currently teach, he was always drawn to the physics laboratory where he would check out the school projects and apparatus.

With the discovery of his interests, it was crucial to find a school that would hold space for his love for building and discovering and further guiding and shaping his curiosity. As an educator, I had been following Christopher Khaemba’s unique education approach from Friends School Kamusinga to Alliance High School and then to The African Leadership Academy in South Africa. With Mr. Khaemba at the helm of Nova Pioneer’s leadership team,  I was confident that Nova Pioneer’s focus on Project Based Learning, innovation and leadership, will add an insurmountable amount of value to Yasin’s life.

 

Making It Work: Overcoming The Hurdles

 

As a family, we were already head over heels in love with the school after bringing Yasin for his interview at the Tatu City campus. It was clear to us after he got his offer that it would be an uphill task to tell Yasin that the cost of attendance at Nova Pioneer would be prohibitive. From the look of things, our modest earnings as teachers would not allow us to foot the cost of Yasin attending Nova Pioneer.

As normal parents would do, we had to pull our resources together and figure out a way to make it work. Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Armed with determination and supplemental income from dairy farming and poultry keeping, I joined a merry go round, table banking group of six ladies called Blessed Sisters where we contribute thirty thousand shillings per month. Through the help of this group, I managed to complete the full year fees for Yasin by July.  This has given me much flexibility to plan ahead and ensure that I’m consistently ahead on payments. “No Human is Limited” – Eliud Kipchoge.

 

Learning During A Pandemic.

 

When the government closed all learning institutions in March, learning at Nova never stopped. They simply transitioned to virtual learning. As a teacher in an inadequately resourced school, I was unable to facilitate virtual classes for my students and therefore took this time to attend my son’s online classes. This experience has been nothing short of amazing and eye-opening. The things Yasin is able to do on the laptop make me very happy given he didn’t learn any computer in primary school. 

My personal favorite sessions have been the morning barazas. I vividly recall Dr. Benson Kairu(The school Principal) on one of the barazas talking to the young men about the Marshmallow experiment. It was very gripping to see how his points on exercising patience, self-control, and putting off instant gratification, were delivered in such a simple and relatable yet very practical manner.

I have also learned a lot just by observing the teachers. They have been extraordinarily consistent in their commitment to serve the learners at times, even late into the night. I remember a time when Yasin was doing revision for his midterm exam and encountered some difficulties in his calculations, he immediately sought help from his teacher of Mathematics (Mr. Carlos Ominde) who gave him feedback through email at around 11 pm. He often called Mr.Katumo his teacher of English late in the night for consultation and always got sorted. 

The delivery of lessons has been world-class. Their lessons are always interactive and the teachers always go above and beyond in ensuring the classes, albeit virtual, are conducive for learning. It was very endearing to see how even in the virtual classes, the collaborative approach to learning is adhered to. The break out rooms, class presentations and projects enhance the Joy of learning. My snaps and shout outs go to all F1S1 teachers: Mr.Abucheri, Mr.Hisabu, Mr.Kerabu, Ms.Wafula, Ms.Shanyisa, Mr.Nyamu, Mr.Ngahu, Ms.Kimetto and all the others.

Furthermore, the young men carry out projects either individually or in groups assigned to them by the teachers. The projects have helped Yasin develop research skills and he’s now more capable of doing such things on his own without supervision. The projects that are done as a group have enabled Yasin to embrace the culture principle; greater together. In fact, together with his classmates like Kizito, Okoth and Muhando, they have gone as far as creating their own zoom meetings to discuss and prepare for exams in the evenings. They are now working on the Post School Success Project with Mr.Hisabu as their faculty member.

Through the virtual learning that the school has implemented, I can stand as a proud parent to say that Yasin has developed a high form of discipline and self-startership. He always shows up for all the classes in time and has never missed to put on his uniform even for a single day. To add on to that, the school through the end of term report card has shown that everything that takes place in the classroom counts. This is seen when the report card entails the opener exam, quick quizzes, quizzes, midterm exam and projects. Through this, the young men are able to understand that they need to take everything seriously since they sum up to the final result.

The Nova Pioneer curriculum designers have gone out of their way to support teachers with truly engaging lesson plans. There’s the incorporation of audio-visual resources such as eye-catching videos and pictures. The reading of novels that are not KCSE set texts is worth mentioning. This term for example the Form Ones studied Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. I remember recently when I wanted to buy a cooker Yasin engaged me on the possibility of buying it online. I showed much valid apprehension to his idea as I wanted to see it first before I made the purchase. Yasin was able to draw a relatable comparison with a character from Chinua Achebe’s book that left me tongue-tied. He insisted I should not be like Okonkwo and that I should consider changing with the times! As a teacher of English and Literature myself, this comparison made me proud. It speaks to the level of relatability and relevance the content they are being exposed to really is.

This is indeed a great journey of hope and faith. I am certain that by the time Yasin gets to Form Four, he will have developed tremendously. My prayer is that he later joins an Ivy League University to pursue Engineering. I have faith that through Nova Pioneer’s robust international exposure modules courtesy of the Post School Success Team, he will be able to make it.

I highly recommend Nova Pioneer for any parent out there who has big dreams for their child. Champions are truly made from a desire, a dream and a vision!