Turning lives around in a school with a student-teacher ratio of 58:1, is no easy task, not least when to reach the school, students must walk 7km along roads that become impassable in the rainy season. Peter Tabichi’s students learn in poorly equipped classrooms. Drought and famine are frequent. Ninety-five percent of pupils hail from poor families, almost a third are orphans or have only one parent, and many go without food at home. Drug abuse, teenage pregnancies, dropping out early from school, young marriages, and suicide are common. But he was undeterred. His dedication, hard work, and passionate belief in his students’ talent, led Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School in rural Kenya, to emerge victorious after taking on the country’s best schools in national science competitions. His students have also won an award from The Royal Society of Chemistry after harnessing local plant life to generate electricity. By making his students believe in themselves, their achievement and self-esteem increases. Enrolment has doubled to 400 over three years, and cases of indiscipline have fallen from 30 per week, to just three. What makes him exceptional:
> Gives away 80% of his monthly income to the poor.
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Just RM5 per month.
