Merishaw School champions the Boy Child through sports, mentorship programme

As students cheered, ran, and competed across various sporting disciplines, Merishaw School used its annual Sports and Fun Day to send a message that goes beyond the finish line — the boy child must not be left behind.

Speaking on the sidelines of the event, school principal Mr. Aringo Caryl said society had for too long overlooked young men, and that the imbalance was now showing in homes and communities across the country.

"There is a deficiency of good fathers in society. We could be having very many mothers, but there is a shortage of complete fathers right now," he said. "A child needs two parents, but the father is absent. Why is he absent? Because somewhere along the way, he was not nurtured properly."

To address this, Merishaw runs a structured mentorship programme that brings in professionals — lawyers, doctors, engineers — every month to speak directly to students about what it means to grow into responsible men.

"They come and tell the boys, I am a father and I am an engineer, I am a father and I am a lawyer. What must you do to become a complete man?" Caryl explained. "We cannot afford to lose an entire generation of young men. There is no society without a man, there is no family without a man."

Sports Master Kennedy Karori said the day's activities — which included football, volleyball, basketball, athletics, lacrosse, and indoor games — were designed to develop students beyond the classroom.

"The objective was to produce students who are all-round, both in academics and through sports," Karori said. "Merishaw is home of the boy child. We change boys into men."

Parent Thomas Ogisio, who attended the event with his family, echoed the sentiment, saying the boy child had increasingly become an afterthought in community conversations.

"The boy child is being treated like a burden," he said. "We need to empower them, put them in a position where they can become entrepreneurs, become leaders. They are good people and they can do well."

The school says the mentorship programme and events like Sports Day are part of a deliberate effort to ensure its students leave not just with certificates, but with the character and confidence to anchor their families and communities.