The world’s oldest first-grader has been honoured with a doodle by Google Kenya .
Depicted by an old white-haired man doing a writing exercise with children grinning in the background, the doodle is in celebration of Kimani Maruge’s entry into school 11 years ago yesterday.
With Kenyan primary education being made free in 2003, Kiman Maruge enrolled in a school the following at 84 years making him the world's oldest first-grader. Photo: Google
With Kenyan primary education being made free in 2003, Kimani Maruge enrolled in a school the following year. Photo: Google
According to The Guiness Book of Records at 84 years of age, Kimani Maruge became the oldest person to have enrolled in primary school.
A former freedom fighter, he had earlier attended school for three to four years before being displaced from his village. It was only in 2004 that he decided to return to primary school following the implementation of the free primary education policy.
Maruge also helped promote education at the 2005 U.N. Millennium Development Summit by travelling around New York in a big yellow school bus. He was also the subject of a documentary and feature film titled The First Grader.
Maruge passed away in 2009.