Pain, agony as Malindi girl misses school for one year due to lack of fees

An 18-year-old girl from Malindi subcounty in Kilifi county is living in pain and agony after she missed school for over one year due to a lack of school fees.

Jesca Sirya, who got a national school after scoring over 365 marks in KCPE was forced to join a provincial school after community members fundraised for her.

However, since  July last year, she has not been able to continue learning at Ribe Girls High School.

She is the firstborn in a family of seven and is currently staying with her father and six siblings in a single rented room at Takaye within Malindi town.

Her dream of becoming a lawyer is slowly fading as the father, a casual labourer earning a living from fence cutting, cannot afford the costs of educating the bright girl.

Journalists visited the family that lives in a single rented room and came face to face with the the agony and sorrow as she seems to have lost hope of completing her secondary education.

Getting meals is also a problem; sometimes they go a whole day without food.

She said there are three girls and four boys and she completed KCPE in 2022 and was called to Lamu Girls National School, but her family opted to take her to Ribe Girls.

“I reported to school late because others reported in May, but I joined form one in June after the half term one week before school closed and still got a C plus,” she said.

All the remaining period of Form 1 she said was smooth as she had a sponsor who allegedly withdrew support forcing her to stop going to school. 

She said her mother struggled to pay but managed to be in school for a while after which she went home due to lack of fees.

“My prayer is if there is anyone who can help me get back to school I will work hard and get a B plus because I have been out of school a lot and performance has gone down,” she said.

In her quest to seek help, she said they went to the Malindi MP’s office to fill out bursary forms and later the MCA for Shella ward but found they had issued bursaries so they were not lucky.

According to the family, they later went to a pastor who promised to pay her full fees up to Form 4 and after calculations, he was to pay Sh102,000 but there was miscommunication as they never understood they were to go for the fees at the church.

Upon revisiting the church the Pastor directed them to the accountant who up to date is yet to effect payment.

Her father, Gilbert Sirya, aged 48, said he has struggled to educate the children from primary until the firstborn dropped out in Form 2 due to lack of funds.

So far he said he has tried to seek help to educate her in vain and was forced to drop out as he cannot afford it.

“Now the bill has reached Sh120,000 and I am unable to raise the money, I cannot even transfer her because I was to clear the debt then I transfer and I have not been able,” he said.

Initially, he said they did fundraising and managed to raise Sh60,000 which was used for her Form 1 studies after which the family got no more help.

To him, she was his only hope as the firstborn she would complete her studies and help her young siblings but now there are fears that all of them might end up not finishing school despite being bright.

For more information on how you can reach out to the family, contact the writer of the story on 0720106756.