The Daily Nation banner headline on January 29 was mainly about students who failed to report to school because they lacked fees.
On Monday, the Daily Nation banner headline was mainly about students who failed to report to school because they lacked fees. Headlined “Bursary scandal”, the story carried six pictures of such students. The pictures of the six students are repeated and five more added in the inside story (“School out of reach for many in spite of scholarship billions.” Pages 6-7)
After reading the articles, Bimal Shah decided to support seven of the students. Mr Shah is the chief executive officer of the Broadway Group of Companies, a bursary-giving family-run enterprise. Based in Thika, it owns one of the oldest bakeries in Kenya, Broadway.
The Daily Nation story reports many of the children and parents who spoke to the Nation expressed fears the doors may have silenced their applications for assistance. “They accused authorities of leaving them out and extending the much-needed assistance to some undeserving families,” the story reports.
However, Mr Shah says he was more surprised how the students, nearly all of them from the same school, singularly managed to get their story and pictures published in the Nation.
“From the Nation, we chose seven students, depending on their grades, not realising they came from same school,” he says. He thinks it’s unfair, in a country where needy students are everywhere, that one school received all theNation attention.
“Five of the students came with their mothers to our offices in Thika today,” he says.
“After going through their letters of offers from the secondary schools, we were actually surprised all the five students finished their KCPE at the same primary school… All these students know each other… We were informed by the students that nine of the 11 students studied in the same school.”
Mr Shah mentions the name of the private school, names of the managers and the agent they employed. “Your reporters didn’t do any investigations or due diligence on why a particular school would use your newspaper to highlight the plight of needy students.
“We support more than 20 students every year, many after appeal on TV and print media,” he said. He questioned the standards of reporting the Nation used.
“We request you to look into this misreporting and respond urgently,” he says. Mr Shah says Broadway relies largely on media appeals to select deserving students. The record shows the Nation has over the years highlighted many cases of students from all over the country in want of bursaries.
Last year, it published 52 appeals with pictures of the students from across Kenya seeking financial assistance to enroll in Form One (“Help us enter Form One, appeal poor KCPE top performers,” Nation.Africa, January 29, 2023).
The Nation has also published human interest features on individual needy students without necessarily zeroing in on one school. A recent example is “Boy who went to school with just a box and soap gets sponsorship for dream career” by George Odiwuor (Nation.Africa January 20, 2024). This is a follow-up of the story “He walked to school with an empty box, came home victorious,” published on January 10.
In another story, the Nation profiled 28 needy students from across the country (“Bright but needy learners may never join Form One due to lack of school fees,” Nation.Africa, January 7, 2024). But perhaps the most touching story is “Triumph over adversity: Samburu girl reports to Form One with just a bag and pencil” by Geoffrey Ondieki (Nation.Africa, January 17, 2024). Mr Ondieki, in his outstanding story telling style, stirs all the right emotions regarding Akuwam Arupe, the 15-year-old girl in search of an education.
Mr Shah’s “surprise” suggests the Nation was unduly influenced to include all, or nearly all, needy cases from only one school in its “Bursary scandal”.
It is another way of saying the Nation story itself was another scandal. And given the testimony from the students involved, it is a believable story.
But the important thing is that this is an opportune occasion to remind readers that conflict of interest, unfair advantage and influence-peddling are ruled out in NMG journalism.
NMG platforms, its editorial policy says, are independent of vested interests or external influences.
“Our journalists do not let others dictate and, or, influence their coverage or treatment of stories,” the NMG editorial policy states.
- The Public Editor is an independent news ombudsman who handles readers’ complaints on editorial matters including accuracy and journalistic standards. Email: [email protected]. Call or text 0721989264
