After his university degree failed to earn him job with the Teachers Service Commission, a Kenyatta University graduate is now a despondent full-time hawker.
Abraham Maina, a teacher by profession, earned a bachelor’s degree in Education Arts in 2008, with teaching topics in Geography and Mathematics.
Since then, he has taught at numerous schools under the Board of Management, including St Joseph High School in Kiambu and Ruiru Girls High School.
Maina likewise received a TSC number with the hopes of becoming a government employee, but his ambitions were never realized.
After being turned down for multiple job interviews because he pursued the degree without being qualified, the reality of his joblessness became more apparent.
Maina completed his secondary education in 2002, earning a B- in Mathematics and a C plain in Geography, but was unable to attend university due to a lack of funds due to his poor family’s financial situation.
Years later, good fortune came his way when well-wishers stepped up and pledged to support him to pursue a degree, so he enrolled at Kenyatta University and graduated with a second class upper division.
Many years later, he was astounded to find that in order to qualify for teacher training, one must have received at least a C+ in each subject.
This realization drove Maina to become a hawker when he lost hope of being a teacher despite his tireless efforts to ensure that he taught secondary school.
With the outbreak of the pandemic, his hawking company hit a snag, putting pressure on the 38-year-old trained graduate with a family to support.
His dormant dreams have resurfaced in the midst of his current misfortune, with Maina pleading with the government to act and save him from his predicament.
He wants the authorities to look into why the university granted him a chance to study a program for which he was not qualified, and why TSC registered him only to later reject his papers.
