Homa Bay: Form One Student Stranded As Deaf Parents Unable To Pay His School Fees

• Kennedy Odhiambo, a Form One student at Kuoyo Kochia High School, has been home for over a week now
• Since he joined the school early this year, his parents, both of whom have a hearing impairment, have been able to raise only KSh 5,000
• The balance needed is KSh 40,535, and the only hope for Odhiambo and his parents is for a well-wisher to come to their rescue

Homa Bay – A Form One student at Kuoyo Kochia High School is staring at a bleak future after he was sent home for failing to clear his school fees.

Kennedy Odhiambo has been at home for over a week now. With his parents unable to raise the school fees needed, all he does is house chores.

How much does Kennedy Odhiambo need?

He lives with his parents in the Got Rabuor area of Homa Bay town and hopes that good luck will unfold and a good Samaritan will rescue him.

Both of Odhiambo’s parents have a hearing impairment and don't have jobs that could enable them to pay the KSh 40,535 school fees needed.

He was admitted to the school after the Homa Bay county commissioner ordered all learners to be accepted regardless of whether they had money.

The church he fellowships at had helped him raise some money for his personal effects.

It is not the first time that Odhiambo has been sent home for school fees. He had the same issue in the first and second terms – on both occasions, going back with letters from the office of the county commissioner and the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF).

"I would like to ask anyone out there who may be willing to help me pay my school fees so that I can go on with my studies to the university level where I desire to reach," the student told TUKO.co.ke.

According to his father, Zachary Aoko, Odhiambo scored 257 marks in last year's Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE).

What do Kennedy Odhiambo's parents do?

Since his son’s admission to Kuoyo Kochia High School, he has not been able to raise enough money for the school fees needed.

"I have skills in metalwork, and I work in people's workshops. Sometimes, I get jobs, and sometimes, I fail to. That is how I fend for my family," Aoko explained to TUKO.co.ke through Christine Akinyi, the sign language interpreter.

"Odhiambo stayed in school for the whole of term one without school fees and was sent home first in term two. That's when we got KSh 5,000 that took him back to school until now," added Aoko who works in the Jua Kali industry.

He added that getting jobs has been difficult for him and his spouse because of their condition.

Aoko, who has four children, noted that his first-born daughter had to drop out of school in form two due to a lack of school fees.

“Odhiambo is the third born. My secondborn is also a girl, and she has gotten an opportunity to continue with her secondary education with the help of the church. She is in form two now,” the father, a Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church member, said.

While he admits the language barrier has made it difficult for him to get a job, he believes that with a little support, he can use his skills to take care of his family.

"If someone can support me with equipment, I can make products like metal boxes and other metal products to help me fend for my family," Aoko told TUKO.co.ke at his home.

For Jael Achieng, Odhiambo's mother, the pain and embarrassment of being with her son at home while others are in school are almost taking a toll on her.

"My heart is pained by the fact that I can't find anything to educate my children. I'm afraid my son may drop out of school just as his first sister did," Achieng' cried out.

She has been complementing her husband by doing laundry work and carrying water to construction sites, but such jobs do not come easily as most people have no idea how to communicate with her.

“As a mother, my heart will be full when I see my son in school just as others. I plead with anyone to help me pay my son's school fees," Achieng' asked.

Homa Bay County Commissioner Moses Lilan said it was wrong for a school to send home a learner for not paying school fees.

"Any school that sends such student home must persuade us that the student has not made any payment at all. No student should be out of school, and that's our position," Lilan told TUKO.co.ke.

Kennedy Odhiambo and his parents now hope a well-wisher will rescue them.

The family can be reached through the number 0724 480039 - Jael Achieng Aoko.

Uasin Gishu boy reports to school with empty box

Previously, TUKO.co.ke reported that a promising student, Jonathan Kigen, who scored an impressive 372 marks in the 2023 KCPE exams, was denied admission to St Micheals Terige High School in Nandi County.

This was after he reported to the institution with an empty box for Form One admission and without fees.

Accompanied by his father, Kigen had embarked on what was supposed to be a hopeful journey to the high school.

Proofreading by Otukho Jackson, a multimedia journalist and copy editor at TUKO.co.ke