Ministry Tracing 46 KCPE Candidates Who Went Missing On Exam Day.
Examiners were unable to locate 46 candidates who were scheduled to take the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam, which began on Monday, March 7, across the country.
The 46 candidates went missing in Embu County, and local authorities’ efforts to find them before the KCPE exams began were futile.
“It is true some candidates did not sit for the national examination because they could not be found. We looked for them unsuccessfully,” he told the Nation.
Embu County Director of Education James Kairu confirmed that the students were not found and thus missed the national test, which is important in the transition to high school.
He went on to say that they had dispatched a multi-agency team, including police and local government officials, to assist in locating the students, but they had never been seen.
Following an investigation, Kairu explained that some of the missing students were from families who had been evicted from a disputed piece of land believed to be owned by the Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority (TARDA).
Kairu believes that some of the students may have been affected by the evictions, which were carried out under the supervision of police officers.
During the eviction, police demolished Ndunguni market stalls and houses on the property.
Meanwhile, Embu Sub-County Education Director Joseph Ngonjo told Capital FM that the students had registered to take the national exams, but their desks remained empty while their classmates continued with the exam.
Ngonjo noted that efforts to contact them from their homes had been futile, as most had reportedly vanished without a trace.
“This is the biggest challenge we are having of many candidates failing to turn up for the examinations yet their whereabouts remain a mystery,” he stated.
ALSO READ:
He believed that the most plausible explanation for the learners’ absence was that they had left their homes in search of casual labor in Muguka farms, where farming and sand harvesting are the most prevalent economic activities.
“The Ministry of Education and other stakeholders here are doing everything possible to trace the candidates,” Ngonjo maintained.
Ministry Tracing 46 KCPE Candidates Who Went Missing On Exam Day.
