A 21-year-old candidate from Tharaka-Nithi County who was studying on a Nation Media Group scholarship has scored A-minus in the recently announced Kenya Certificate Secondary Education examination results.

Gideon Gitonga from Gatunga village earned the scholarship for his four-year study at Mang’u High School after scoring 391 marks in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination.

The candidate, the last-born in a family of eight children, comes from a low-income background.

Speaking to the Nation at his home, Gitonga said he hoped to score an A-plain but was content with the results.

“I worked hard to make sure that I do not disappoint Nation Media Group for its great support,” said Gitonga.

He said he would like to study engineering at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and in future help his 70-year-old father, Bernard Nyamu, and 67-year-old mother, Mariamu Katha.

Mr Nyamu said he could not have raised fees for his son at Mangu had Nation Media Group not offered his son a scholarship.

“I had planned to take my son to a nearby day school, and he would not have performed as well,” said Mr Nyamu.

He said he was optimistic his son would raise the family from poverty once he is employed after university studies.

He said he and his wife are elderly and urged Nation Media Group to continue monitoring and advising his son even after he joins university.