Kenya’s first President, Jomo Kenyatta, secured admission to the prestigious London School of Economics despite lacking both a secondary school certificate and a first university degree.
According to a 2019 report by Kenyans.co.ke, Kenyatta's academic journey took an unusual path, beginning with basic mission education at Thogoto in Kikuyu, where he studied carpentry, mathematics and the Bible.
In 1931, William McGregor Ross, then Director of Public Works in the East Africa Protectorate, helped him secure admission to Woodbrook Quaker College in Birmingham, England. Ross also paid his tuition fees until he completed his studies and graduated with a certificate in English composition.
Kenyatta later travelled to Moscow after his friend George Padmore arranged his admission to the University of the Toilers of the East.
His biggest academic breakthrough came in 1934 when Professor Bronislaw Malinowski helped him enrol as a full-time postgraduate student in the Department of Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics.
His admission was remarkable because he had neither a first degree nor a secondary school diploma.
https://www.kenyans.co.ke/news/39041-kenyattas-amazing-achievements-universities-even-without-high-school-certificate
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