15-year-old female student hits street to beg for school fees (Photos)

A young girl identified as Mellan Njeri, a form two student at Kihumbu-ini Secondary School in Murang’a county, Kenya has taken to the streets to beg for help with school fees.

To get the attention of would-be well-wishers, Njeri traversed Nairobi’s Central Business District carrying a placard with the words “please help me with school fees.”

The Standard reports that the teenager was sent home over arrears of KSh 29,177 (N109,175).

Reports indicate that the student and her friend Mary Wanjiru had already covered Langata Road, Parliament Road, Processional Way, Kenyatta Avenue, and Moi Avenue in Kenya but were yet to raise even a paltry KSh 500 (N1,870.92).

“We arrived at the city centre around 8 am. She is my friend and neighbour that is why I accompanied her since I know her and the family,” Njeri’s friend said.

The 15-year-old, who was dressed in her full school uniform, explained that she was sent out of the institution over the arrears on September 10 but her mother could not raise the money needed.

Her mother Anne Wangechi Mureithi corroborated the story, adding that she is a casual labourer and the only breadwinner raising Njeri and three other siblings.

“She has been in and out of school and when she arrived home on September 10, I had no other option and that is how we decided to write the banner and allow her to travel from Ruiru to Nairobi,” the mother expressed.

When the school was contacted, a secretary admitted that the institution is aware of Njeri’s case but the mother is yet to go there physically for a chat with the administration.