25 learners who missed KCPE exams to join Form One using previous results
At least 25 learners who did not sit the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations in Homa Bay County will be enrolled in Form One, the Ministry of Education has announced.
The learners will be placed in various secondary schools based on their previous performance in primary schools.
County Education Director Ziada Osano said her office will rely on the marks that each learner got in primary school during the enrollment exercise.
"The Ministry of Education released a circular guiding placement of students who did not sit KCPE exams last year. They will join secondary school based on their academic performance in primary school,” Osano said, adding that they would first verify whether the learners were studying the Kenyan education curriculum.
In the circular, the ministry said the effected students will do another test in Form Three before proceeding to Form Four. The test would be equivalent to the KCPE exams.
Among the learners who are set to join secondary school after failing to sit the national exams is a girl who who went into hiding during the examination period.
The school enrolled 190 candidates but the name of the girl was missing from the nominal list.
According to the school’s management, all learners were asked to ensure that their names appeared in the nominal list.
However, the pupil did not take part in the exercise. She is said to have been attending classes until the final day and was even sighted in school on the day of the rehearsals.
During the three days of the exams, the girl was reported to have gone into hiding.
When reached for comment, the girl’s father said all along he knew that his daughter did the national exams.
He only realised that something was amiss when the girl could not provide her index number during the release of the exams results.
"I was surprised when my daughter revealed to me that she did not sit for exams when other learners were receiving their results. She had been in school all along,” the father said.
"I gave her money to cater for her meals as the exams were in progress. I am still surprised that she did not sit the test," he said.
At the same time, Ms Osano cited domestic dispute as one of the reasons some learners missed the exams.
One pupil was reported to have run away from home a day before the exams started following a disagreement between his parents.
