PhD Holder Defies Odds after Failing English in KCPE, Earns Doctorate from Oxford

• Gladys Ngetich scored 298 marks in her KCPE exams, with English being one of her poorest-performing subjects
• She attended a rural primary school where Kalenjin was the language of instruction, which left her with very limited English proficiency when she joined high school
• Less than ten years after those difficult high school moments, she was accepted into a PhD program in mechanical engineering at the University of Oxford
• She opens up to TUKO on her journey from rising from the ashes to becoming one of the best PhD-holding engineers

If Gladys Ngetich planned for her life based on the grades she scored during the end of her primary school, she would not be on the youngest PhD holders.

During the now moribund Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), she scored 298 marks, with English being one of her most underperformed subjects.

In an exclusive interview with TUKO.co.ke, Ngetich said she went to high school with very limited knowledge of the English language as she had come from a school where Kalenjin was used during teaching.

"While this approach helped us understand concepts, it didn’t offer much opportunity to practice English," she said.

With her English proficiency being so poor, she was determined to learn how to speak and write in the King's language.

"As other students were doing one essay per week, I submitted two to three because I just wanted to improve and learn how to speak and write in English," she said.

While in high school, she remembers a time when she was asked to read a chapter in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart for the rest of the class.

As soon as she uttered the first word from the chapter, giggles from the rest of the classmates rented the air, muffling her voice as she read the set book.

She could not decipher what was funny, and it took the teacher's effort to restore calm in the class so that she could finish her part.

"I was not so sure what they were laughing at and so when I went to sit, I asked my friend and she told my Kalenjin accent was just too heavy and audibly conspicuous. I felt so ba with my confidence and sel-esteemed suffered a blow. I couldn’t help but feel that we often forget that English, like any other language, is a means of communication, a way of sharing messages, connecting with others. It's not a measure of someone's intelligence," she said.

However, this and other experiences fuelled her desire to improve her spoken and written English and she sure did.

Less than decade after that experience, she was already preparing to fly to the United Kingdom, to pursue a PhD in mechanical engineering, and is now a published author in the same language she initially struggled to learn.

"Back then, the only association I had with Oxford was the Oxford English Dictionary. To think that I was later accepted into a PhD program at the University of Oxford, and that I have since published three books, is a testament to the power of grit," she said.

Getting into Oxford University in the UK

After completing her Bachelor's Degree, the author said her then campus boyfriend inspired her to apply for scholarships outside of Kenya.

She applied for several until she landed the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship which got her into the Oxford University to pursue a PhD in engineering.

And now, years later, Gladys is a PhD holder, author, and podcaster who has been inspiring many other people through her own story.

"I am just grateful I did not give up," she said.

Source: TUKO.co.ke