Earlier this month, high school student leaders from Akiba School attended a leadership forum at Kenyatta University. The students had the opportunity to tour the campus as well as attend several classroom and student mentoring sessions.
The student leaders learned more about effective study habits and how to succeed academically. They also discussed how to decide on a career and what it means to be a leader. The theme of the conference was “Mentoring young leaders and impacting value based leadership.”
The leadership conference comes at a key time for secondary school leaders in the nation. Over the past month, over 100 high school dormitories and academic buildings have been set ablaze across the country in protest by students and faculty. The fires are believed to have been set by students as well as cartels involved in supplying exam papers to paying students. The groups are upset that recent reforms that seek to limit corruption and abuse in the national examination process.
Students have long complained that the rich have access to early exam results through bribery and corruption while poor students struggle and are judged unfairly on the national exams.
For many of the students from Akiba, this was their first time to visit a university. Teacher Stephen pointed out that exposing students to post-secondary opportunities is key and it “will really help them to be more focused in terms of achieving their dreams.”