A total of 13 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) candidates who are expectant in Webuye East are expected to sit for their tests in hospital.
According to Webuye East Sub-County Director of Education Sospeter Were, five of the candidates will sit for KCPE and eight for KCSE.
Addressing the press on Thursday evening at St Mathews ACK Secondary School in Webuye Town, after conducting a briefing meeting with education stakeholders ahead of the examinations, Mr Were said that most of the expectant students are expected to deliver during the examination period.
“We have talked to the school heads and centre managers that when a student is due to deliver they should communicate to us so that we dispatch a vehicle to take them to the hospital,” added Mr Were.
He said plans have been put in place to make sure the students are able to sit for their exams even in hospital because they have a right to Education.
According to Mr Were, 1, 978 boys and 2,013 girls will sit for KCPE in the sub county across the 69 examination centres.
“For KCSE, we have 794 boys and 1,070 girls who will sit for the tests in the 28 centres. We have talked to teachers, centre managers, supervisors, education officials as well as security officers charged with overseeing this exercise and it is all systems go,” added Mr Were.
Meanwhile in Meru County, officials have said vehicles will be on stand-by to help ferry expectant candidates in the event that they go into labour while doing the exams.
Tigania East Education officer Dabasso Saru said officials will ensure all the 1,933 KCPE candidates were comfortable during the entire exam period.
Speaking at the sub-county headquarters at Muthara, the official said the area had many pregnant candidates and their safety was of utmost importance.
Mr Saru added that besides being on the lookout for emergencies that could arise due to the pregnancies, they were aware that some students could be arrested and thus wanted to be there to help.
A recent report indicated that four out of every 10 women attending pre-natal clinics in Meru are girls below 19 years.
“We know that some girls are pregnant and we don’t know how advanced they are in the pregnancy. We are mapping the schools and want to ensure that our vehicles remain there after delivering exam materials. We also have resources to sort out hardships that could emerge as a result of students being arrested or sudden delivery,” he said.
The official added that they would also ensure that most schools had food so that students would not be required to walk long distances in search of food during exam time.
He urged parents to take the responsibility of escorting their children to school especially those crossing rivers and busy roads, to ensure their safety.
“We want parents to sacrifice their time during this period. We are also working on ways to ensure students stay in school during exams including providing meals,” said Mr Saru.
He said the sub county leadership was consulting to ensure areas affected by long rains and could not be accessed by the ordinary school buses received four wheel drive vehicles to ensure timely delivery of exams.
Mr Saru also encouraged the candidates against being over anxious during the exam period, saying there was life after exams whether one passed or failed.
“We have many ways of ensuring 100 percent transition rate including joining vocational training centres,” he said.
