The First Grader

Post-colonial Kenya. A public education system is introduced. Free education for all is announced. The vast majority of new students are children.

But one 84-year old former member of the Mau Mau resistance who fought against the British seeks an education as well. Determined to learn how to read and write in order to have a better understanding of his surrounding worlds, and read for himself what is written in a letter he received from the government, he stubbornly adheres to the rules when his initial attempts to gain access are rebuked, and is eventually given admittance to an overcrowded rural classroom.

Kimani N'gan'ga Maruge (Oliver Litondo) becomes a peculiar presence at school but one whom facilitator of learning Jane Obinchu (Naomie Harris) finds endearing. The administration does not share Jane's sentiments and consistently reminds her that by 'everyone' the government means 'every child' and that they already do not have the resources to teach every child and would be incomprehensibly overwhelmed if every adult sought a free education from grade 1 onwards as well. Their statistical analysis coalesces with the community's jealous censure of Maruge's activities to make life exceedingly difficult for both teacher and learner.

But they endure.

Justin Chadwick's The First Grader is a powerful film that demonstrates the enormous benefits that can result from exceptions, or, in this case, literal applications, when the practical ethical results outweigh the economic forecasts. Obviously with scant resources at their disposal a Department of Education would be unable to educate every illiterate citizen right off the bat, let alone every child, but seeing how only an extremely small percentage of such citizens over the age of 20 would choose to be educated with children, why not make an exception for those who do, instead of blindly upholding a rigid principle?

Taxation is at the heart of the matter and the question of whether or not you want to pay higher taxes in order to ensure your children/relatives/friends/neighbours mature in a dynamic learning environment fully equipped with engaging professionals and resources (the same ones provided for students of private schools) that vigorously nurture and develop their gifts?

Maruge's gifts are nurtured and developed and he has a positive influence on his fellow classmates as well. His struggle to learn functions as a prominent example of someone courageously seeking to receive the same remarkable educational opportunities that many people in Western countries simply take for granted.