Kipsigis Girls Chief Principal Christine Chumba is a rare breed of education administrator for she has left a trail of exceptional performance in virtually every school she has headed.
Even when she meets less endowed students academically, she has the knack to crack it to produce A students year after year.
In an interview with a local radio station, Chumba said that learners, especially those from the vast Rift Valley where she hails from, need to be put under pressure if the best results have to be realized.
The bold and humble administrator, who has seen many of her mentees succeed across the collective profile of the country’s academia, said she realized this when she was at Bahati Girls High School in Nakuru, one of the leading schools both in the region and nationally.
“Though they came to the school with extremely low marks, the girls I taught managed to excel in the end,” she narrates, crediting the incredible performance to their obedience to instructions and constant push to make a difference.
Having learnt this, she went on to apply the principle wherever she was posted to lift the performance there. To date, she has left a trail of illustrious results courtesy of her approach.
In Molo Academy for instance, she was able to produce the highest number of As in Biology, which is her major teaching subject, despite the immensity of the demands of her job as an administrator. On this, the subject emerged the best in the vast Rift Valley and among the top in the country.
In all schools she was honored to lead, her mantra has been to get the best out of everyone under her supervision. And this did not go unrewarded; her subject has always come out on top despite being a Science.
She started her career in Njoro Girls in 1988, before being switched around to Kituro, Kirobon, Nakuru, and Moi Tea schools as the performance in national examinations rolled out magnificent results.
However, it had never crossed her mind that she would be a career teacher.
“I wanted to be a medical doctor, but when the A-Level results were released, I could not qualify because I had not chosen Mathematics, which was a cluster requirement,” she reveals.
But she was not to be stuck in that conundrum. Admitted to the university to do Bachelor of Education (Science), she quickly settled for Biology, understanding it to be a sacred calling.
“God knew I had to carry the lives of many children in schools and not in hospitals giving hope to ailing patients,” the deeply religious principal philosophized.
The exceptional talent goes beyond class environment and office duties; she has headed several departments in the schools she has been. She was a Science, Boarding and Dorm Master, Class Teacher, Head of Department, Science Club patron, among other responsibilities.
On this year’s Heroes Day, we celebrate her as an unflagging mentor whose career is a tower of hope for many in the past, present and future.
By William Sawe
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