652 KCSE Students Did Exams In A Hospital After Delivery

Some 652 candidates sat their 2020 KCSE examinations in hospitals after giving birth, Education CS George Magoha revealed on Monday when he released scores with Bungoma county being the highest with 43 students.

Speaking when he released the 2020 KCSE results at Mtihani House, Education CS George Magoha said parents are to blame for the high number of pregnant candidates.

He said 3,772 candidates, both boys, and girls, skipped the test. Some 752,933 learners were registered but only 749,161 eventually sat the exams.

The number of girls sitting their KCSE exams in hospitals after delivery was more than twice that of 2019, when 282 found themselves in similar circumstances, igniting concern among the public and education stakeholders.

Bungoma was followed by Meru which recorded 38 candidates, followed by Nakuru 36, Kisii, and Nandi. Magoha urged authorities to track down the candidates to ensure they continue with their education.

The counties with the highest prevalence in 2019 included 45 Bungoma 17, Kakamega 16, Meru (16), and Makueni 16. Magoha attributed the surge to the long school closure due to the measures taken by the government to contain the spread of Covid-19.

“We have noted the number of candidates sitting the examinations upon delivery went up in 2020… showing that the long school closure due to Covid-19 may have driven our learners into many temptations at a time most households were facing enormous challenges,” Magoha said.

Schools were closed from March 2020 until October when candidates were recalled preparing for the tests.

Pregnant students have in the past attributed their condition to a lack of sanitary pads and being hoodwinked by men who offer to help them buy pads. But CS Magoha said 490 million shillings were spent on buying pads for nine months.

Magoha had earlier issued a directive that all candidates, including pregnant and those breastfeeding, take the exam. This is unlike in the past, where pregnant candidates would not be allowed to sit the examinations within the schools.

The CS said the ministry and government departments will focus on 46 counties deemed as worst hit by teenage pregnancies. He did not name the 47th that was not as seriously affected.

Most of these cases have been reported in slums, town centers, and sugarcane growing areas.

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