A police officer guarding the ongoing national examinations was on Monday arrested by his colleagues after leaving his post in Nakuru County to go on a drinking spree.
According to a police report seen by the Nation, Kimonia Primary School centre manager Elijah Biwott reported the officer's absence to authorities before candidates sat for the KCPE examination.
"Molo security team in the company of Mariashoni Officer Commanding Station (OCS) rushed at the school and found the said police constable sleeping in one of the rooms at the teacher's quarters appearing drunk. The officer was disarmed and another officer instructed to take charge during the English Composition paper," reads part of the report.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the officer left his post and went to a nearby trading centre, where he's said to have consumed the alcohol.
When one of the teachers at the school compound noticed that the officer was drunk, he approached him and convinced him to take a nap in his house before the police arrived and arrested him.
In neighbouring Kericho, a 15-year-old girl sat the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) exams from her hospital bed after giving birth on Sunday.
“The young mother from Kerego primary school in Ainamoi constituency sat for her mathematics examinations under supervision at the hospital,” Mr Mathew Sang, the hospital administrator, told journalists.
Ms Mary Rotich, the Kericho branch secretary of the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) and her counterpart from the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Ann Cheruiyot, said those found to have impregnated schoolgirls should be arrested and prosecuted.
“It is unfortunate that sex pests in the society have impregnated girls, rendering them young mothers and leading to their dropping out of school. The culprits should be arrested [and] punitive and deterrent measures taken,” Ms Rotich said.
She said children deserve protection from those who seek to exploit them and the Children’s Act should be fully applied.
Ms Cheruiyot said there is a need to sensitise young learners on the dangers of early sexual intercourse.
