428 did not turn up for KCPE at Coast
EDUCATION
By Weldon Kipkemoi and Hassan Barisa | March 27th 2021

At least 428 candidates in Coast who had registered for this year's Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination did not sit the papers.
According to Coast Education Coordinator Edward Arita, Mombasa County had the highest number of candidates who did not sit the exams at the centres they had registered.
Mr Arita attributed the situation to massive layoffs in the hospitality industry due to adverse effects of Covid-19, adding that most of the sacked employees migrated to other regions.
In other counties like Kilifi, Tana River, Kwale, Taita Taveta and Lamu, the educationist blamed early pregnancies and marriages of schoolgirls.
According to the data compiled by the Ministry of Education officials, 139 candidates did not turn up for exams in Mombasa while Kilifi had 118 missing candidates.
KEEP READING
Kitui KCPE candidate ‘failed by his school’
Triplets want to join different schools after KCPE exploits
Corona has shown that the tools we employ in delivering education brings more inequality
It was not clear whether the missing pupils sat the exams elsewhere since Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha had directed that students who migrated to do exams from wherever they are.
Arita said the government was tracking down the missing candidates.
"The government had announced that there should be a 100 percent transition. Despite them missing the exams, they will be granted a second chance to sit their exam and transit either to secondary school or polytechnics," he said.
Of the missing candidates, Kwale County had 59, Taita Taveta 48, Tana River 46 and Lamu 18.
In Tana River, four girls gave birth during the KCPE exams, a situation that saw three of them sit the final papers at Hola Hospital maternity wing.
One pupil of Mkomani Primary Galole constituency reportedly developed labour pains while doing the exam on Wednesday and was rushed to hospital.
In Bura constituency, a candidate at Maramtu Primary School also developed labour pains minutes after sitting the Kiswahili paper.
She was rushed to Madogo Health Centre where she delivered. She did her last paper on Wednesday at the hospital's maternity wing under supervision.
RELATED VIDEOS
KCSE Exams 2020: CS George Magoha overseeing process in Kisumu
KCSE kicks off with over 750,000 candidates sitting the exams
KCSE Exams kick off, is it necessary to have armed policemen at the exam centers?
Airbnb supply gets a boost as vacationers prefer remote stays - AirDNA
Airbnb’s global active listings increased by 2.5 per centas of February 2021, compared with a year earlier, according to the firm.Varsity don to lead team overseeing CBC execution
Prof Fatuma Chege was chairperson of the CBC task force that came up with the implementation road map for the new education system.MOST READ

- Man arrested stark naked, appears in court in policewoman’s clothes
KENYA
- The Obamas seek financial help to bring kin’s body home
NAIROBI
- Woman: Nigerian man never conned me Sh31m, I gave him the money
NAIROBI
- Briton loses custody of his son to Kenya woman
KENYA
- KCPE stars' dreams and career plans
EDUCATION