This year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exam has had its fair share of drama but what seems to have taken center stage is the number of candidates expecting and those who have given birth in the course of the exam period.
Cabinet Secretary for Education Amina Mohamed has finally spoken out on the widespread cases of teenage births across the country. The CS said that the country is facing a crisis if this is an all year round phenomenon.
“We have detected a high number of candidates who became mothers during the three days of KCPE. If this is happening all year round in the country, then we could be facing a real crisis,” said the CS.
Amina Mohamed has now asked quality assurance & standards officers at the ministry to investigate the cases of pregnancies among school girls and present a report to her.
“Let the quality assurance and standards department work with relevant departments to investigate the cases and give me a report for further action,” Amina said.
According to the CS, the ministry is alarmed by the increased cases of teenage births that were reported in the just concluded KCPE exams as a total number of 30 candidates gave birth during the exam while others were rescued while found cohabiting with men.
“These children should actually be in school, and not be in hospital nursing babies. They are babies themselves,” Amina lamented.
“Let’s not expose them to things they are not supposed to be exposed to as such a tender age,” she added.
Amina called on parents and guardians to protect the minors adding that the government will punish those responsible for the pregnancies.
“We will go after the abusers to make sure that they provide support for these babies. If we don’t find the culprits, we must come together as a society to do exactly that,” said Amina.
Among the latest cases was at Makongo Primary in Kitui where a candidate gave birth in the school compound ahead of the Social Studies paper. Amina Mohamed also addressed the rising number of cases of candidates sitting examinations in health facilities due to different ailments.
“I’m going to discuss with my colleague Sicily Kariuki (Health CS) with a view to putting in place some special facilities in our hospitals that can be used during examinations to allow candidates to concentrate and focus on getting the best results that they can manage,” she said.