Kenya’s best brains leave...

General
1

…right after KCSE. I don’t suppose this one will ever return after graduating from engineering school at Yale. Why would she? The top 24 KCSE 2018 students will have the opportunity to attend elite universities in the USA and Canada. Every year it’s the same story of Africa’s brain drain.

[SIZE=7]Top 2018 KCSE student bags scholarship, targets Yale University admission[/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]Irene Juliet Otieno topped in the 2018 KCSE examinations by scoring grade A with a mean of 87.64[/SIZE]

In Summary
• Juliet had earlier secured a place at Technical University of Kenya to pursue Electronic Engineering under the government sponsorship programme.
• She will be part of 24 who will be sponsored to join top universities in the USA and Canada

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The top student of the 2018 KCSE exams, Juliet Otieno, has bagged a prestigious scholarship to fund her university education to a tune of Sh4 million.

Juliet topped in the 2018 KCSE examinations by scoring grade A with a mean of 87.64 and now wants to use the scholarship to gain admission at Yale University.

The former Pangani girls alumni on Wednesday revealed she will pass a government sponsorship that placed her at the Technical University of Kenya to pursue Aeronautical engineering.

“I will be applying to Yale University before November 1 when the application doors close,” the 18-year-old said.
Juliet who is confident in bagging the admission to Yale University, says she is keen on pursuing engineering but still remains split on the specialisation.
“I wanted to do aeronautical engineering but unfortunately it is not offered st Yale so I have to align my choice with what they are offering,” she told the Star yesterday in an interview.
She will be part of 24 high school graduates who will be sponsored to join top universities in the USA and Canada under a program titled Kenya Scholar Access Program.

Kennedy airlift
KenSap executive director Alan Davidson likens the program to the Kennedy airlift.
A program that airlifted East African students in the late ’50s and the early ’60s to attend a college education at USA and Canada.

The program began in 1959 and was a brainchild of the late Tom Mboya.
It was sought scholarships for Kenyan students who’s access for higher education was scarce under the British colonial government.
“KenSap beneficiaries might no have made a big impact in the society like the Kennedy airlift program alumni but they sure will be impacting the society in the coming days,”
Over a five year period, the Kennedy airlift program saw nearly 800 young East Africans mostly from Kenya who would go on to change their world and ours.

It is the Kennedy Airlift that opens the chapter for the story of America’s first black president, Barack Obama whose father was a beneficiary of the Kennedy airlift program.
Others supported by the Kennedy airlift included, Wangari Maathai the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, post-colonial period cabinet ministers, ambassadors, university chancellors, clinic and school founders.
KenSap program has so far placed 197 high school graduates since its founding in 2004.

https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2019-10-23-top-2018-kcse-student-bags-scholarship-targets-yale-university-admission/

2

When i was younger i would watch these athletes who were born and raised in Kenya but denounced their citizenship and became citizens of other nations and competed for them eg qatar na usa. And i would look at them with disgust but the older i got, the more i understood their decisions.

Kenya for a longtime will be a shamba la mawe go out there and do your thing.

3

watarudi tu alafu wakuwe wadosi huku wapitishe policies favouring wazungu e.g. Opus dei mwenyewe

4

They come back home confused. The curriculum in most superpowers is geared towards political and economic dominance and suppression of weaker nations.
When our own go to learn in these jurisdictions, then come back home, they end up conflicted.
We are better of enhancing regional institutions, that can adequately address the challenges (social, economic and politics) we face as a region.

5

Matiangi should seek ways of retaining these bright heads here at home and use the brains to change Kenya. These brains know hakuna kazi only for the few connected ones.

But look at that bonobo face carefully called Matiangi, look at him again , you will realize that he has no remorse for the future of Kenya when such young brains leave and will never come back. You see the smile , it’s very evil smile. Smile of “when will remittance start trickling in”…

6

The best brains wako humu humu nchini, helping the best in the west ace exams. I should know some barely-surviving young people who have produced more papers that entire faculties in most institutions of higher learning.

7

I suggest you do a little research. Education in the US is geared towards critical thinking and independence. You can’t crum and ace an exam.

8

And tell him too how seriously they take plagiarism. Ruto with that his fake “PhD” haezi toboa. Is his thesis even published? Where can we get a copy tuchambue?

9

And they are all here, in Eldoret living a quiet life despite having foreign passports. But everyone understands their decisions and they are never harassed by authority.
Most if not all have built hotels, athletes camps for foreigners wishing to train here and rental apartments, think it’s easier for them to manage.

10

you are right in my campus heydays we used to rent one room around five people and write theses for lazy wazungus.i can tell you people in kenya are smart

11

Most often the people who are intelligent in class never become outstanding and really successful in life. Life requires a person who is balanced in all areas in order to succeed. That is why the most successful people in life are the average people. Most so smart people are poor in communication and socializing which are key aspects needed to be outstanding in life. Patriotism is another drive for success because it motivates you to want to do things differently in order to bring change hence innovation. Thus many people who live their countries never standing out in the society. That is why you see the likes of Makau Mutua always trying to seek relevance back home here

12

@Purple hebu tuchanue kuhusu glincard ya kuenda USA.

13

Policies zetu za mtu kupata wira ndio mbaya

14

[MEDIA=twitter]1186988447875108864[/MEDIA]

15

Try paying your bills next time with patriotism!!!

16

Not really. I went to a national school during those days when an A was not easy to attain…and the other day during one of our alumni meetings we were very happy to note that almost all A students from that era are very successful in life. True, the ‘richest’ three, from our observation, were B students but they all had links to corruption networks…including one who was recently in the papers for stealing almost a billion from a state firm. So if your definition of success is based on Kenyan’s hustler mentality then you are very right. But if it’s the honest success through sweat and blood then intelligent students are doing very well…without using corruption as a ladder to their riches

17

You know you just typed very many words to explain so little. This is the mentality that is pulling down omwafrika.

18

I’m not disputing the quality of education abroad . My issue is with the impact.

19

pia mimi siezi rudi, my cousin was studying Linguistics and Literature pale Miami University, then alikua anafanya few hours work huko(reason student visa limit hours one can work. The few hours enabled him to pay school fees for his sisters. He then did masters + Phpd on the same + african literature. This made him secure a lec job at Duke uni. Hapa kenya ukifanya linguistics unaambiwa unanziwe na 12k per month. Pia mimi given any chance kenya itanionea viu sasa

20

The problems with Africa will not be solved by first world solutions. These bright minds thrive in a structured environment. Africa is anything but structured. The best they can do is come up with policies for our economies, such as Bw Njoroge at Central Bank. But they need to study in those Ivy League schools for that and the networks.

Our actual solutions will be home grown. I’d rather hire a UoN grad over an MIT one coz Vitu kwa ground ni different. The MIT one should have his own consultancy in Boston figuring out how to bring DFIs to Kenya.