WE MUST MENTOR TO NURTURE RESPONSIBLE YOUNG CITIZENS

Education is a fundamental right must be provided to every Kenyan child according to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and the Kenya Constitution 2010.

Besides classroom instruction, it is equally important to offer life lessons that we cannot share during class time that will help bring up all rounded students.  I applaud the great efforts that Equity Group Foundation in partnership with The Master card Foundation, the United States for International Development (USAID) and the Department for International Development (DFID) - UK have gone into in organizing Annual education and Leadership Congress now for the third year. I was honored to be invited in the ongoing congress at Kenyatta University that brought together approximately 5,000 scholars drawn from secondary schools and Universities under Equity Bank’s scholarship programme as a mentor.  I would like to share some principles learnt with other young Kenyans who might not have had the chance to participate in the congress.

It is important for students to take 100% responsibility of their lives. They cannot afford to continually lament that it is because of the parents or teachers that they are not performing well.  They should have control of each and every detail regarding their education. It is equally important to have a clear picture in your mind of why you are where you are at any time. When in school, realize that your main goal is to gain knowledge and everything else should come second. Set your goals right, know what you want to do, and to become and never settle for less. Your goals must be SMART!

Believe that it can be achieved. It has been said that we can have or achieve anything as far as we can visualize it.  You first achieve in your mind then believe in yourself that I can achieve it. See yourself the doctor, engineer, pilot you wish to become, and you will ultimately be. Then take action, implement those things laid out in your plan or else your dream will remain a mirage.  Know what you have to do, focus and avoid interruptions. Hard work may take you to the top but only discipline will keep you there. You might be the best student but without discipline you will not remain the best for long.  

Another important principle is persistence. You may have tried and failed but remember that quitters never win.  We need to keep at it until we are good at it if not the best.  Failure has been infact described finding out one way of not doing something. A good example that comes to mind is the Abraham Lincoln, America’s 16^th President who never gave up vying for presidency even after losing 8 elections and is known as one of the greatest Presidents in America’s history.

Peer mentoring is very important. Interaction between best performing schools and the ones who do not do so well through foras such as debates, quizzes and sports will help them sharpen each other.

The older generation has an enormous task and they are needed now more than ever to seat with the students and be first hand examples of what education can help one achieve. We can seat in the Parents Teacher Association Boards, or form mentoring teams to enlighten our young on both loop -holes they can avoid and opportunities they can utilize to better their lives.

We need to continue building more schools, provide learning materials, and support bright but needy students by offering them bursaries and scholarships. Of paramount importance is to guide them by being good role models as they look up to us.