Moses Gitonga and Monica Wambui initially thought their son had simply memorized what he was saying after hearing adults speak, but each day was a surprise as he read more words accurately.
Today, at the age of two years and nine months, Elias has become something of a celebrity in his Ngumba Estate neighborhood in Nairobi for his reading ability — yet he has never stepped into a classroom and has not gone through home schooling.
His parents had bought the charts to prepare him to join pre-primary once he attained the age of three years, but every time they showed him new writings and images, he promptly read them without any help. Apart from the alphabet, Elias can read and pronounce the vowels chart and the names of animals. “He likes watching news when most of his age mates like watching cartoons,” says his father, adding that Elias likes to read out the names of political leaders when their images appear on TV.