Outrage as Kenyan teacher who won global award fails to feature on Kenya’s newspaper front page

Kenyans have today rallied behind Media Personality and entrepreneur Julie Gichuru who raised concern over how the print media handled the story of Peter Tabichi, a Kenyan teacher who bagged a global award yesterday.

Peter Tabichi, a teacher at Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School in Pwani Village in Nakuru, won the $1m prize on Sunday.

Mr Tabichi has been a teacher for 12 years and was on 24th March 2019 crowned the best in the world after winning the 2019 Global Teacher Prize.

The irony in his success story is that Tabichi made headlines in the front pages of international newspapers yet in Kenya, none of the news papers had his story on the front page.

Julie Gichuri questioned why the media did not give his win a priority. She also says that this gap is the reason why he does not buy newspapers anymore.

Mr Tabichi was praised for giving away 80 percent of his monthly salary to help poor students in his school.

His dedication, hard work and passionate belief in his students’ talents has led his poorly-resourced school to emerge victorious after taking on the country’s best schools in national science competitions.

Why was his story not prioritized by the print media? There is a belief that Kenyans rarely support their own and their attitude is always quick to react to only the negative.

In as much as we might not want to believe this, today’s papers are just screaming the belief in our faces.

Or is this a question of Kenya’s competency in the media industry? Here i what Kenyans think.

And that’s why I continue saying that Kenyan mainstream media is incompetent, mediocre and a big let down to the people of the republic of Kenya!— MR INTEGRITY (@drkingrafael) March 25, 2019

Haiya Julie,
Why are you shocked?
The teacher’s victory is an “embarrassment, a disgrace” to a people that reward & celebrate mediocrity & average in appointments, State Medals,etc. under the guise of face of Kenya.
Congrats Mwalimu, You’ve bust the myths/excuses of resources.— Valued Conversations (@valuedconverse) March 25, 2019

We are brought up not to praise our own instead celebrate when they are down . It’s a sick country . God help us change 🙏🙏— Washeke (@muthoniwasheke) March 25, 2019

They could put Githeri man on headline but this excellent achievement can’t be given recognition. Sad!!!— CAlo_KE🇰🇪◼️◼️ (@calo_ke) March 25, 2019

Si kiongozi wa nchi alisema ni za kufungia nyama!— Fortitude! (@Spaida) March 25, 2019

Had great hope for @PeopleDailyKe but them too have joined the bad boys club. We need a positive newspaper with minimal politics. Anybody wishing the government to fail is indirectly wishing the country to fail. Positive criticism will take us to the next level. Not bad politics— JM II (@GeoconsultInfo) March 25, 2019

Welcome to kenya where politics is the only thing that we consume..— Emeldahsuju (@Emeldahsuju1) March 25, 2019

Kenyan media is really githeri…it’s about Ruto and raila…the teacher did not steal… even the kenyan churches unless they want part of the money cannot celebrate him.we are living at bad times— James Mwanza (@JamesMw01624428) March 25, 2019

It’s utterly disgusting how our media are shameless in ensuring we concentrate on shenanigans than our achievements. Hongera Mwalimu Tibichi na barikiwa sana— Hauz Gachene (@GacheneK) March 25, 2019


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