Kalle Rovanpera of Finland won the recent World Rally Championship Safari Rally, which took place in Naivasha. He is 21 years.
The young Finn is said to have won four rounds of the World Rally Championship series. Kalle looks pretty young. On seeing him on TV, I wondered how he would perform in the tough Kenya segment of the WRC rally. But a few days later, voila, he was the champion.
I appreciate and congratulate the Toyota team, to which Kalle belonged, for a commanding victory. The Toyota victory story has since been well told. But the young Finn is himself a story. He motivates thought and challenge. His ability to conquer the world at 21 is remarkable. It should challenge us.
In the way we educate, and in the way groom young talent. It should jolt us to mould our young to optimise their talents regardless of age. Some hypothetical illustration helps. If he were Kenyan and learning under the old 7-4-2-3 school system, Kalle would perhaps have joined the school at seven years.
He would, therefore, have done his primary examination in Standard Seven at 14 years, spent a further four years in lower secondary school and finished Form Four at 18.
He would have spent the next two years in high school and left aged 20. University would have taken him three years. He would have left at 23. This system didn’t allow for spotting and perfection of young talent.
The 8-4-4 system was fundamentally similar. Kalle would enter school aged seven and then exit primary at 15. He would be 19 on leaving the fourth form and obtain his undergraduate degree at 23. Once again, this provided no room for spotting and developing talent.
The newly introduced 2-6-3-3 Competence-Based Curriculum system cuts out two years from the previous 16-year systems. We may begin to see learners graduate at 21 years. However, the question of whether it will allow sufficient latitude to spot and grow young gifted learners begs.
Let us remember that young Kalle competed elsewhere before coming to Kenya. At his age, travel, negotiating immigration issues and living away from home has become the norm. He looked quite collected while addressing the media too.
Importantly, he commanded strict timing and discipline to start and push his rally car through punishing local roads to victory. All this calls for good parenting, mentoring, training, hard work and resilience.
Perhaps the Finnish school system and socialisation enable. I recall reading that his father, a former WRC rally driver himself, took young Kalle to Latvia at 12 years for rallying. He also enlisted the services of his former co-driver to patronise young Kalle.
Excellent teaching by example, and timely exposure to reliable role models and trainers.
We must be challenged that our young, if well guided and facilitated, can attain similar feats. We’ve seen a little of this in athletics. Let’s escalate it to other areas. Let parents and curricula developers take note and apply themselves accordingly.
