Vihiga student refuses to sit KCSE exams without smoking weed first

A student at Obunaka Boys Secondary School in Luanda Vihiga County declined to sit his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams after reportedly having not smoked bhang.

The student arrived at the school last Wednesday as usual but a few minutes before the start of the morning paper, he refused to enter the examination room.

After thorough interrogation by the officials in charge, it emerged that he had not smoked the weed, claiming he was unable to sit Christian Religious Education Paper 2 and History and Government Paper 1 because he found it hard to remember what he had revised.

After efforts by exam officials to convince the student to sit the first paper hit a snag, they summoned the parents of the student.

The mother of the candidate arrived at school and tried to persuade her son to do the exam in vain, as the student maintained he would not do the exam until he smoked.

The parent was advised to leave with his son.

On the following day, the student turned up very early in the morning and did his subsequent exams without drama.

Centre exam officials declined to comment on the incident and referred journalists to county education officials.

The Nairobian established the student is a regular user of the prohibited substance.

“He cannot do anything if he has not smoked. He becomes dormant if not under the influence of the substance. The boy is addicted and the substance makes him active. It seems that he never smoked before going for his exam and his parents know it because it is something that is in public domain,” said a source.

“This area is well known for growing bhang and it has high usage of the substance among youths... The situation is common among many other students, it is only that it manifested in one of the candidates,” he added.

Newton Kwame, chairman of Luanda Township Community Policing, said the use of bhang in the area, especially in Luanda market and town, is on the rise with learners, especially the university students, being affected.

When contacted, Vihiga County Education Director David Koech sought for more time to get details about the incident before commenting.