Number of teen pregnancy is on rise more than ten candidates gave birth during their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations (KCPE) exams which kicked of on Tuesday.
The government has put on notice men impregnating teenagers, some of the candidates are reported to be taking the exams while pregnant, others gave birth in school or on their way.
“We shall go beyond our teachers, we shall go in the villagers and ensure no one is left free,” said Belio Kipsang, the Education Principal Secretary, who was among hundreds of senior government officials—including Cabinet Secretaries—traversing the country to ensure the integrity of the examinations is safeguarded.
One such case was reported in Kwale County a KCPE candidate at Voroni Primary School gave birth to a baby boy shortly after the exams kicked of.
The candidate is reported to have developed labour pains hours before the exams and was rushed to Kwale Hospital where she gave birth.
However the candidate was stable and that she wrote the mathematics test from her hospital bed.
Kwale County Commissioner Karuku Ngumo said the girl started having labour pains earlier in the day so she was taken to Kwale Hospital.
The examinations kicked off smoothly, with a total of 8,086 candidates across Kwale.
Mr Karuku said security was beefed up in all examination centres so they were not anticipating any problems.
“We have tightened security in all our institutions to ensure the examinations run smoothly on the three days,” he said.
The Class Eight candidate who was defiled by her teacher last weekend in Njoro, Nakuru County is now sitting her primary school examinations three days after the incident.
According to the head teacher, the 15- year-old pupil is in a stable condition and is ready for the the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exams.
Similar cases were reported in Kitui ,Nyeri, Mombasa, Nakuru and Nyanza region since Tuesday when the examinations started.
In all the cases, the candidates were allowed to proceed with their examinations either in class, or in hospitals where papers were delivered under tight security.
According to Kenya’s Demographic Health Survey, Narok is leading in teenage pregnancy in the country at 46 per cent.