On this year’s World Twins Day, more than 50 sets of twins gathered in Eldoret to celebrate their unbreakable bonds and unique life experiences.

Among them were Joyline Cheptoo and Joseline Cheruto, inseparable 23-year-old twin sisters, who work at the Delight Gooseberry company in Eldoret.

Among the more than 50 sets of twins was a  set reunited in 2020, just months after meeting on Facebook. 

Adorning white T-Shirts, the twins met in Eldoret to discuss their life experiences during Twins Day.

They established a WhatsApp group to bring together twins in the North Rift and Western regions, and their numbers grew to hundreds of twin sets.

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From mistaken identities to mischief in school and to scoring the same grades as well as similar feelings, the twins shared and celebrated their uniqueness.

Cheptoo and Cheruto who hail from Moi’s Bridge said while at Ngeria Girls Secondary School in Uasin Gishu County, they gave teachers and other students a hard time identifying them. 

Cheruto says whenever she has a headache, her sister feels the same. She said they experience their monthly periods at the same time.

Cheptoo said; “After high school, we started job hunting and we all landed jobs at Gooseberry Delight by coincidence. I don’t know what will happen in case of separation because separating will hurt the two of us.” 

Terran Misoi and her twin sister Kesumo Misoy, who are identical twins from Kapnyeberai in Nandi County scored the same marks, 361, in their national tests in primary school and both went ahead to attain B minus in their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) at Our Lady of Peace Nandi Hills Secondary School.

The 27-year-olds live 300 kilometres apart; Terran lives in Nairobi while Kesumo stays in Eldoret.

On Saturday, they said they were celebrating their physical reunion.

“The distance is a challenge but we often connect through video calls. We also visit each other regularly during occasions,” says Kesumo.

Her sister Terran says, “I travelled all the way from Nairobi to Eldoret, to celebrate World Twins Day and importantly to meet my twin sister.”

Identical Sharon and Melon, the famous Kakamega twins, stood out.

They attained celebrity status in 2019 after their striking similarities caused them to meet and before questioning their parents about their identity. It was later established that they had been separated at birth at a Kakamega hospital where their mother had given birth to them. A DNA test showed they were blood sisters.

Currently, Melon is a student at Mount Kenya University while Sharon is at Kibabii University, and both are pursuing degrees in Journalism.

They said they decided to pursue a degree in Journalism to highlight stories of twins and their experiences and to appreciate the media for carrying stories that helped them solve the puzzle of their identity four years ago.

“For us, it has never been easy since 2019. World Twins Day enables the two of us to erase bad memories of our separation at birth,” Sharon said.

Melon added, “We thank The Standard and KTN for highlighting our story in 2019. It is because of their coverage that we found our real identity.”

Male twins used the opportunity to explain how they have found themselves in trouble over striking similarities with their identical brothers.

One time, Philip Yego faced disciplinary action at his place of work after his bosses spotted his twin brother Elphus Yego driving a truck in Eldoret and thought he had absconded from duty. “I was on the verge of being fired. I had to bring my twin brother to the disciplinary committee. That is when they believed me,” said Philip, who is the chairman of Twins Link Foundation, North Rift. By Stephen Rutto, The Standard

Mount Kenya University has waived school fees for more than 4,000 students, amounting to Sh80 million.

The university Chairman Simon Gicharu said the beneficiaries are those who were allowed to learn during the Covid-19 pandemic, then graduated but have never collected their certificates due to lack of money.

"The issue of uncollected certificates was worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic. On behalf of the board of directors, I would like to announce the waiver of all these fines. We have written off the Sh80 million, and all the past students can now come and collect their certificates without having to pay a cent," said Gicharu, who is also the university founder. 

Gicharu made the remarks during the university's 23rd graduation ceremony in Thika yesterday.

He said the university would embrace education reforms, adding that the overhaul touches on increased productivity in research and innovation, improvement in university international rankings, exemption of university scholarly research and innovation levies. 

The reforms are contained in the report by a task force led by Prof Raphael Munavu, which was presented to President William Ruto on Tuesday. The report contains a raft of recommendations aimed at reforming the education system from pre-primary to tertiary levels.

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One of the key recommendations is the introduction of a programme modelled on the National Youth Service pre-university, a programme that collapsed in the 1980s.

The proposed programme will introduce a mandatory three-month community service for senior school graduates and a further nine-month community service upon completion of tertiary education, with the aim of embedding community-based learning. 

Additionally, universities will be required to develop one-year retraining programmes for teachers in preparation for competency-based teacher education programmes.

During the graduation, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan was awarded an honorary degree, Doctor of Law, for being a seasoned international criminal law and human rights lawyer, his community outreach, and his efforts in the fight against terrorism. 

National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang'ula, who was the chief guest, allayed fear that private institutions will be affected by the education reforms. By Gitau Wanyoike , The Standard

The 173,000 candidates who sat the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination and were eligible to join the university have a new lifeline as they can now choose to pursue IT-related degree programmes from the newly launched the Open University of Kenya.

President William Ruto announced that the cost of the six pioneer programmes at the new university will cost half the fees charged in other public universities. 

The six undergraduate degree programmes include a Bachelor of Cyber security and digital forensics, Bachelor of data science, Bachelor of Technology Education, Bachelor of Science in business and Entrepreneurship, Bachelor of Economics and Statistics, and Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and Food security.

The university will also offer two graduate degrees in leadership and accountability and learning design and teaching. The Open University is now the 42nd public university in the country and will admit its first cohort in September.

Create opportunities

Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu lauded the university noting it will create opportunities to build on human capital.  

“This is a new chapter in access to higher education opportunities by leveraging technology.  This university will promote access to higher education for many men and women who could otherwise have dropped out.

“They will now be able to access higher education conveniently and at an affordable cost,” Machogu said.

The CS termed the institution an important milestone in ensuring that Kenya has opportunities to build human capital.

Dr Ruto instructed the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) to include the institution as an option for placement in the 2023/24 cycle.

This means that more than 140,000 students who were placed in public and private universities will have a chance to switch their universities and course upon admission in September when the placement body opens the inter-university transfer.

The directive also gives a lifeline to the 23,000 candidates that qualified for university but did not choose to pursue any degree or diploma course in this year’s placement cycle to universities and colleges.

The institution will give students the opportunity to pursue the eight courses virtually.  By Lewis Nyaundi, The Standard