NTV Swahili anchor, Salim Swaleh, has explained his struggle with mathematics.
Appearing on My Journey Series hosted by comedian Daniel Ndambuki alias Churchill, the decorated news anchor said that despite his prowess and command of the Swahili language, he had a hard time when it came to mathematics.
Salim attributed his poor performance to lack of a solid foundation.
He narrated how, while in Form Three, was embarrassed after the headmaster in an assembly called out his poor performance, although he did not reveal the identity of the two students who had scored zero percent in the mathematics paper.
“How can you be in class all through the term and get zero. The performance makes you no different from the one making ends meet in the market,” Salim recalled his headmaster’s sentiments.
The news anchor attributed his poor performance in the subject to lack of a solid foundation in his early years in primary school.
“I skipped class four, five and six. I had already broken my voice and the height was not helpful,” he narrated.
“This made my teachers take me to class seven and the struggle with the subject began due to lack of basic solid foundation.”
The struggle with the subject progressed to Menengai High School through Form One to Form Four.
“Every time the mathematics teacher came to class, I would completely zone off and sleep during the session,” he added.
In order to substitute his poor performance in mathematics, he narrated that he concentrated on the languages that would boost his overall performance.
The efforts paid off after he scored a C+ (plus) in his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination and secured a college slot to study a diploma course.
Salim known for his prowess in the delivery of news and command of the Swahili language, has a career that spans over a decade in media.
