By Emmanuel Gwakoi
Patrick Nyagosia, a career educationist, has made a mark in Kenya’s education system, contributing in his own small way to the development of the periodic division of the school time table.
Now enjoying his retirement in his rural home, he can look back to his prime time around education circles in deserved satisfaction.
He is credited to unpacking the conventional primary and secondary school class time table for a better understanding of its rationale. As the then Provincial Director of Education (PDE) in the former Central Province, he authored Operation Effective 40/35/30 and Educational Risk Management manuals, which guided teachers on time management to foster education standards and performance.
“Some teachers get confused and mix educational and non-educational matters. That is why I came up with the books to help them manage their time strictly to benefit learners,” Nyagosia explained, adding that he is set to publish another book he has written: Characteristics of Effective Schools.
The book entails school leadership, vision and mission, expectations of good performance, good school-home relationship, monitoring student progress, and time management by teachers and learners.
He breaks down the 40/35/30 guide as the time a teacher takes in a secondary, upper primary and lower primary school class respectively, reminding teachers to focus on the topic and ensure learners understand.
Yet he is not complacent. There is so much that still needs to be done.
His passion for education has reached fixation levels, establishing an education centre in his own home. Together with his wife, a retired teacher Margaret Mong’ina, he opened the centre in memory of their late son Billy Nyagosia and give back to the society. They want to mould children and shape their future.
“I have set up an educational centre for pre-primary children at my home. I mentor teachers, parents and school children,” he says.
His academic journey started at Nyambera Primary School in Kisii County, before joining St. Johns Rakwaro Minor Seminary, Strathmore College, and eventually Kenyatta University College, then a constituent college of the University of Nairobi. He graduated with a Bachelor of Education (Science) in Botany and Zoology.
As an altar boy at Our Lady of Victory, Kisii Parish, he embraced Christian values at an early age, which partly shaped his interest in mentorship.
Born 66 years ago to Chrisantus Ogecha and Euphensia Moraa at Egesa village in Kitutu Central Sub-county, Nyagosia has worked in the Rift Valley, Coast, Central and Nyanza regions as County Director of Education (CDE), known before as Provincial Director of Education.
“I retired in 2016. I left a mark in academics and extracurricular activities wherever I worked and I am proud of the collective achievements,” says Nyagosia.
The then Seminary Rector Father Pascal Okwatch mentored him. He undertook Teaching Practice at the seminary, graduated in 1984 and posted to Tabaka Secondary School where he stayed for a brief period before being transferred to Kisii School. He was then taken to Gusii Institute of Technology in 1994, but stayed for only six months when he was promoted to Senior Inspector of Schools and deployed to Nairobi.
In 2000, he was transferred to the now defunct Nyamira District to serve in the same capacity, later to be recalled to Nairobi and moved to the Kenya Institute of Management (KIE), which has been transformed to Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), as a trainer in charge of Guidance and Counseling.
Among notable personalities he taught at Kisii School are Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Dr Fred Matiang’i, former senior government officer Abaga Sagero, and Lower Eastern Regional Commissioner Evans Achoki.
Even in retirement, Nyagosia is the school’s Board of Management (BoM) chairman, and Board member in both Maseno School and Lugari National Diploma Teachers College, as well as the BoM vice chairman of Itierio Boys High School.
“I am serving my second term as Kisii School’s Board Chair. The school is doing well in academics and extra-curricular activities, taking more than 500 students to universities and colleges since I joined the Board,” Nyagosia stated, adding that both Itierio and Kisii schools are exceptional soccer talents.
The father of five (two sons and three daughters) is proud to have mentored regional football icons like Henry Motego and the late Henry Nyandoro, who played for the national soccer team in their hey days. He also nurtured sports in Kisii School to take them to national competitions.
“I ensured that students at Kisii School balanced education and extra-curricular activities,” Nyagosia told Education News.
The former PDE notes that the education sector has undergone tremendous changes since the introduction of the 8-4-4 system in 1985. Nevertheless, he praises its predecessor as enabling students to mature before they joined colleges or universities.
He lauds the digitization of education through the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS), though schools still lack infrastructure even at the tuition and boarding levels to accommodate the increasing number of learners.
“Grade 6 and Standard 8 candidates will sit their examinations under the competency-based and KCPE programmes respectively. We are cracking our heads for a double intake next year,” Nyagosia observed.
Nyagosia is not stopping yet; he wants to form a lobby group for retired education officers with the aim of inculcating moral values in school children, and mentoring parents, teachers and other stakeholders to boost educational standards in Kisii and Nyamira counties.
He juggles all these activities with farming; rearing dairy cows and chicken as well as cultivating crops for domestic consumption. He has embraced a healthy lifestyle of walking, jogging and exercising to keep fit and live long, hoping to clock 100 years.
He urges the new Kisii County Governor Paul Simba Arati to bring educationists on board his government to help improve Early Childhood Education (ECDE) and polytechnics as devolved education functions.
“Arati has a passion for education and, as scholars, we want to support him take the county to the next level on educational matters,” Nyagosia told Education News.
