Early Marriages And Teen Pregnancies Blamed For Students’ Failure To Complete KCPE Exam.
Concerns have been raised about the growing number of students who fail to appear for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination despite having registered.
An examination of the recently released 2021 exam reveals that 11,523 candidates failed to take the exam.
This is a decrease from the 12,424 who failed the test in 2020, but the trend is concerning stakeholders. At least 5,530 Standard Eight candidates failed the examination in 2019.
Players in the education sector are demanding to know why so many candidates are missing the exam, a situation that has gotten worse in the last two years.
Some experts blamed it on candidate registration, which is normally done prior to the examination.
“We need to register candidates during the examination year, not a year before the scheduled time of the tests. There is a likelihood that some candidates may drop out of school due to pregnancies or earlier marriages, among other factors,” Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) Secretary-General, Mr Akello Misori said.
Mr Misori pointed out that early marriages, child labor, and teenage pregnancies are just a few of the factors contributing to an increase in the number of absentee candidates.
Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) registered candidates for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) while they were still in Standard Seven, claiming that it gave them more time to plan.
Nairobi had the highest number of candidates who registered for KCPE but did not take the exam in 2021.
Meru (644), Turkana (589), Kakamega (583), Nakuru (561) and Trans Nzoia were the other counties (524).
Isiolo County had the fewest absent candidates. Only 26 of the 4,053 registered KCPE candidates did not appear for the exam.
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Collins Oyuu, Secretary-General of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), stated that the prolonged school closure caused by the Covid-19 outbreak affected many school-aged children.
“Some parents married off their children. For some, they face cruelty at home. Because of this, some disappear and others opt to live with relatives, who may not be keen to take them back to school. We appeal to parents to take care of their children and prioritise their education,” said Mr Oyuu.
Early Marriages And Teen Pregnancies Blamed For Students’ Failure To Complete KCPE Exam
Early Marriages And Teen Pregnancies Blamed For Students’ Failure To Complete KCPE Exam
