Yusuf Aker has been forced to repeat Class 8 after failing to raise the fee required to join Kapsabet High School.
Aker who hails from Tiaty in Baringo scored 380 marks in the 2019 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE).
According to a report by Citizen Digital, Aker tried all the sponsorship opportunities without success.
The young man who dreams of becoming a doctor was the top candidate at his school.
Tangulbei Primary School headteacher James Merinyang expressed shock at seeing the top candidate in class last week despite having topped the entire school in the national exam.
Aker now lives with his grandmother, 82-year-old Chepisogei Lotegu after his father and nine other siblings were killed in a banditry attack on the border of Pokot and Samburu when he was just 3 years old, Citizen Digital reported.
Lotegu ekes a living purely out of a ballast business where she sometimes makes nothing and returns home with no money even for food.
This is happening at a time the Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) George Magoha has directed school heads to admit needy Form One students following increased cases of needy students who were at risk of missing out on secondary education.
Do you have a story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through info@gotta.news or call/SMS +254 731 469269
