Despite her physical condition, June Precious Nasike, 13, managed to overcome all odds to post a sterling performance in the 2023 KCPE results.
Nasike, a member of the Albinism community managed to score 415 Marks, becoming one of the top KCPE candidates.
Her secondary school of choice is The Kenya High School.
Following the footsteps of Goldalyn Kakuya, the 2017 top KCPE candidate in Kenya who also shares the same condition of living with Albinism, Nasike remained unbowed by her condition.
Nasike was a pupil at the Kapsabet Highlands primary school in Nandi County, a modest institution that enabled her to score straight A’s in the five examined subjects.
She was born in June 2010 in Kapsabet to Stella Wanyella, then a district officer for the Kapsabet division and currently a senior Assistant County commissioner in the Keroka division of Kisii County.
Her name June emanates from the month she was born, while Precious was given to her due to her condition. Her mother considers her special in the family being a Third born in a family of five children.
“None of my children has scored such high marks despite her condition,” Wanyella says as she celebrated the results.
In a class of 77 KCPE candidates at the Kapsabet Highlands class of 2023, Nasike was ranked fourth-best candidate despite having been index number 16.
She enrolled at the school from standard one to standard Eight where she wrote her examination.
In the 2023 examination, Nasike was not given any preference as she refused to be treated as a person living with albinism at registration so that she could be handed examination materials with large fonts (prints) by KNEC as she wanted to be like the rest in her class.
She instead used only her reading pair of spectacles to tackle the examinations and wanted “Just to be like others”.
“Even when looking at the blackboard in school, I used not to strain hence I don’t consider myself to be treated as a person living with a disability but just a mere normal condition.”
"I’m all set. Waiting to download my Kenya High admission letter. I believe that is where my lifetime dream can be realized, ” Nasike says as she smiles.
With the results, Nasike has a lot of nice words for her school, Kapsabet Highlands Primary, for the environment it created for not only her but for many who have passed there.
“I was never mistreated, stigmatized or accorded special treatment by my teachers and pupils. I was just like any other child,” she said.
Wanyella, the mother, while expressing satisfaction with her daughter’s hard work, revealed that when she delivered her and saw the condition of her baby, that wasn’t a strange occurrence to her.
“Even my husband did not look disturbed at all even though my other children were normal and he understood that the condition is from my family lineage,” the administrator added.
Just to improve her public confidence, Wanyella linked her daughter with Goldalyn Kakuya, the 2017 top KCPE candidate who scored 455 marks.
Kakuya met with Nasike on several occasions.
“Kakuya instilled confidence in my daughter due to their similarities in several aspects and made her focus on excelling in life,” Wanyella says.
True to the fact, Nasike explained that when they met, they looked alike. She raised her spirit and this made her just want to be like her (Kakuya),
Other personalities from the Albinism community that motivated her included Appellate Justice Mumbi Ngugi and government spokesman Isaac Mwaura.
“However, I want to pursue medicine and become a doctor just like the American author cum Neurosurgeon Ben Carson…infact whenever I read his book “Gifted Hands” I become more motivated to excel,” Nasike adds.
Believing in God, Nasike says her condition is special and only God the creator knows why hence there is no reason why she can’t have dreams like the rest of the children growing up.
“I’m not disabled because I can do everything even beating those referred to be normal academically,” she said.
Her other two siblings managed to score 392 and another 370 in KCPE in the past years.
Her teachers at Kapsabet Highlands said Nasike’s results were not a surprise to them as she was a good candidate ready to excel.
Mathematics teacher Edwin Sitienei says he was proud of her for having shown signs of excelling right from standard seven.
“She was able to tackle any question in the mathematics primary syllabus hence there was no room for her to score less,” Sitienei noted.
The school head teacher Luke Kiptoo said Nasike was a “precious” person to the school due to her being an excellent candidate and her public eloquence.
“Every member of the Kapsabet highlands community loved her. We wish she joins Kenya High and we are sure she will top in Kenya,” she summed up.
Her mother revealed that her condition made her “special” in her family and ensured that she got the right care and protection.
“June needed care and protection from everyone in my family due to her condition, however, she never let us down and has made us proud,” the administrator added.