KCSE pupil of Kwa Song’e Primary School in Kitui County attempted suicide on Thursday, April 15, 2020. The 16-year-old boy is said to have done this after missing his KCPE results.
The school has been accused of failing to register the pupil for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination, hence locking him out of the national exams.
All this happened without the knowledge of the boy who reported to school on March 22 to write Mathematics, English, and Composition exams but was removed from the exam room by the center supervisor.
According to the center manager, the learner couldn’t write the examinations because his name and index number had not been submitted to the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) for registration.
The pupil’s grandmother, who is the guardian, stated that senior residents negotiated, and the boy was allowed into the exam room on March 23 and March 24, when he wrote his Kiswahili, Science, Insha, Social Studies, and Religious Education exams in what seemed like a way of controlling his devastation.
Since the boy did not sit for the entire package of five, his performance would be graded out of 300 marks instead of a total exam score of 500. After the Education CS released the exams on Thursday the pupil sought his results via SMS, only to get a shocking response.
“Dear customer, the KCPE results are either unavailable or the index number [13317124**3] does not exist,” read the message from short code service 20076.
It was at this point that the pupil attempted suicide by ingesting pesticides. He was saved by his younger brother who found him writhing in pain and foaming at the mouth and alerted his grandmother who was in the garden working.
The victim was rushed to Ikanga Health Centre where his passing out was stabilized at the medical facility and regained consciousness later in the day. The pupil confessed to attempting suicide saying that his “future had been ruined by his school”.
“I felt like my world had come to an end; spending eight years in school, and having nothing to show for it, in the long run, is not only heartbreaking but frustrating.” The boy said.
The teenager’s grandmother revealed that a few days before the examinations, she went to the School to confirm whether the boy had been enrolled for the KCPE exam, and the school’s administration affirmed her that the boy was among those listed by KNEC.
“On March 22, the first day of 2020 KCPE, my grandson returned home while in tears. I asked what the problem was, and he said the school had failed to register him for the exam. I was helpless, as I did not know what to do,” she said.
“I’ve taken care of this boy since he was a toddler, including financing his education. It saddens me that he missed out on the exam despite my efforts to do everything right.”
The boy’s family is now calling out the Ministry of Education to intervene and release the results of the 3 exams that the pupil took and action be taken against Kwa Song’e Primary School for alleged negligence.
“The CS pledged 100 percent primary to secondary transition. So, it doesn’t matter how many marks my brother scored, he’ll still be allowed to join Form One. I’m appealing to the ministry to release his marks for the three exams that he took,” said the child’s sibling.
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