Top student Simon Kioko with Katheka Kai Secondary School Principal Margaret Owaka at the school in Machakos County on January 11, 2025/GEORGE OWITI
An 18-year-old boy has impressed the Katheka Kai Secondary School community after emerging among the best KCSE examination candidates in the institution despite his life struggles.
Simon Kioko reared and sold rabbits to raise school fees for the entire four years he studied at the mixed day and boarding secondary school located at Katheka Kai village in Mumbuni, Machakos, Machakos County.
The school principal, Margaret Owaka, bought hundreds of rabbits from the boy whose siblings dropped out of school in Form 2 for a whole year to allow him to sit KCSE. Kioko used the proceeds from his rabbits’ sales to pay for his education.
Students, teachers, and parents, alongside those who sat the KCSE examinations on Saturday, celebrated Kioko’s performance among others who excelled.
“I had challenges in paying school fees. I rear rabbits at home, which I used to sell and pay my fees,” Kioko said.
The boy popularly known as Mr Rabbit in the school spoke to reporters during the celebrations.
Simon Kioko and other top students lifted shoulder high by their colleagues at Katheka Kai Secondary School in Machakos County on January 11, 2024/GEORGE OWITI
He said he started rearing rabbits during the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020 while he was in Standard 8.
“I reared 150 rabbits, the highest number, during the COVID-19. But the number reduced after I joined secondary school due to reduced time spent taking care of them. I used to get home late from school,” Kioko said.
Kioko said his parents were unable to not only pay school fees for his two younger brothers and himself but also that it was tough to raise them.
He said he sells rabbits weighing 1.5 kg at Sh1, 000 each, while those between 2 and 2.5 kg go for Sh1,500.
“I in a good month make between Sh8, 000 and Sh10, 000 out of rabbit sales,” Kioko said.
He aspires to be a civil engineer and intends to rear more than 250 rabbits before he joins university.
Kioko’s mother, Jesinter Manthi, thanked the principal for supporting her child through his secondary education alongside being the boy’s main customer.
“I’m happy; I had problem raising fees for the boy and his brothers. He paid his own fees using rabbits. One of his younger brothers dropped out in 2023 for a whole year. I just returned him to school yesterday. I never paid a coin for his education,” Manthi said.
Brian Mutinda and Augustine Kioko also managed B plain in the exams. All the three said they performed below their expectations.
“I wanted an A, but scored B plain. I faced lots of challenges of school fees, trekking many kilometres to and from school and an unfavorable exams environment,” Mutinda said.
He aspires to be a mechanical engineer.
Augustine thanked the school principal for supporting them to overcome the challenges.
Augustine wants to be a Catholic priest.
Owaka said 15 students qualified for university. They expected more of the students to attain C plus and above.
“According to my standards of judgment, I have improved this school academically, aesthetically, and infrastructure. The discipline has also remarkably improved since I joined the school three years ago,” Owaka said.
“We are taking 15 students to university. I didn’t expect that. In my pre-mock and pre-exam, we got 45 students who scored C plus and above. But, when we managed to get 15, I was shocked. "
Owaka said the students sat the examinations under lots of stress.
She said some students hail from extremely poor backgrounds and walk long distances to school.
“At times, they tell us that the food they eat here is all they live on,” Owaka said.
Owaka said some students who sat the exams left with fees arrears of as much as more than Sh200,000.
“Form fours alone went with almost Sh2 million in fee arreas,” Owaka said.