100 KCPE pupils reported missing

By Paul Gitau

TANA DELTA, KENYA: One hundred candidates for this year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) in Tana Delta district cannot be traced a few weeks to the Standard Eight national examination.

They are believed to have fled with their parents in the tribal violence between the Orma and the Pokomo.

The chaos led to the slaughter of not less than 130 people, including nine policemen and several children, between August and September.

Officials say the number could be higher and search teams were still in the field looking for more candidates.

Schools were looted, burnt or converted into refugee camps for internally displaced persons, while many institutions have not re-opened for the new school term that began in September.

Now Government officials in Tana Delta are warning that the candidates’ fate is unknown because education officials preparing for the KCPE exam cannot find them.

On Wednesday, Tana Delta Deputy District Education Officer Festus Dhadho said the candidates had not been seen since schools re-opened.

Dhadho said his office had directed all primary school head teachers in the district to search for the candidates.

“When the term began we instructed school heads to trace the parents to locate the candidates,” he explained.

Minimal Progress

Dhadho said search teams had made very little headway. All primary school heads in the district have been summoned to Mr Dhadho’s office tomorrow to establish the exact number of missing candidates.

“Friday this week we shall have collected the exact number of pupils missing in the entire district which recently experienced clashes,” said the DEO.

He added 32 candidates who fled the violence would sit the KCPE exam at Marereni Primary School in the neighbouring Magarini District as their parents were not willing to return to Tana Delta. According to Kenya Red Cross, over 15,000 people are living in temporary camps.