As Christopher Kinyua was undertaking his duty as the NTSA director for motorcycle licensing in Kirinyaga on Monday morning, he was an anxious father.
His son Joseph Wanjau was among the 1.2 million candidates who sat KCPE exam two weeks ago.
Just like any other parent, a mixture of optimism and nervousness engulfed him throughout the function where Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho was launching the 60 days boda boda registration exercise.
After Education CS George Magoha had officially released the results, Kinyua was informed of his son's sterling performance at the Kerugoya Good Shepherd Academy.
Wanjau scored 419 marks out of a possible 500 putting him among the top performers in Kirinyaga and across the country.
“The school headteacher called me and informed me that my son had topped their school," he said.
"This prompted me to call my wife Elizabeth and Wanjau’s two siblings who escorted me to the school to confirm the news.”
Wanjau was, however, missing in action as he is one of the initiates currently undergoing circumcision.
His father says the pupil was still not informed of his excellent performance as the young initiates are secluded while undergoing that rite of passage.
“We were extremely happy and proud of our son. I was confident he would make us proud by emerging one of the top students," Kinyua said.
"He deserves the very best because he is a hardworking and committed pupil.”
Besides being focused in his classwork, Kinyua said that his 14-year-old son is always thirsting for success by pushing himself out of his comfort zone.
He said this is the trait that pushed him to plunge himself into the literary world by creating a fictional story.
Wanjau thereafter put it down in form of a 280-page novel that was officially launched in September last year.
Many pupils and students were registering unruly behaviour as a result of schools closure during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Wanjau, however, was down to work on his novel titled ‘Billy in the Robotic universe’ which he authored for the better part of 2020.
His father says the pupil requested him to buy him a four quire A4 sized book where he wrote the story plot with a pencil for easier correction.
“He spent most of his free time writing the manuscripts, we helped him get an editor and thereafter a publisher who compiled all the pages,” Kinyua said.
“He was just about to start another book project but the national exam was nearing. I told him to focus on his studies first as he needed to prepare for the exams.”
Kinyua said that he will continue encouraging his son to widen his horizons in literature.
He is confident his son will join Alliance High School for his secondary school education.
“Having started off at an early age, his future in literature is very promising," Kinyua said.
"Wanjau aspires to become an engineer in future and hopefully he will juggle between the two careers because he is multi-talented.”
He also encouraged his fellow parents to support their children in exploiting their talents as that could generate another stream of income.
Wanjau alongside 25 other pupils scored over 400 marks while the rest of his classmates scored above 300 marks.
The school proprietor John Mugo praised the pupil for putting in a lot of hard work and determination to pursue his talent.
He also praised his candidates for putting the school on the map of top achievers.
Mugo hoped they will receive admission from both national and extra-counties schools.
(Edited by Francis Wadegu)
