By John Majau
4,386 candidates are sitting for the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams in Isiolo county across 122 centers compared to 4,061 candidates in the 2021 national exams.
Whereas the number of boys and girls has risen, the latter are currently leading with a 164-candidate difference against a margin of 43 in the previous exams where female candidates were 2,091.
The trend has been hailed as the right step towards empowering girl child by ensuring more are in school and transit to tertiary level even as the boy child seems forgotten and at the brink of being utterly overshadowed.
“The challenge the government and other non-State actors have is striking a balance between empowering the boy and the girl child. It seems we have focused so much on the girls and forgotten the boys which should not be the case,” says Derrick Mwinzi, a boy child activist.
The number of boys sitting the exams could even be lower as many are suspected to have moved with livestock in search of water and pastures due to the persistent drought that has exposed more than 150,000 residents to hunger.
The activist rooted for up-scaling of efforts to protect girls from retrogressive cultures such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and early marriages to ensure they remain in school and provision of incentives to encourage more boys to join school and come up with retention measures.
The County’s Director of Education James Nyaga warned examination officers against abetting cheating saying those found culpable will be harshly punished.
“We will be going round to monitor the progress so that we have credible exams,” he said.
Arrival of exams delayed in two schools in Sericho that were submerged due to flood water from River Ewaso Nyiro that broke its banks following heavy downpour in neighboring upstream counties.
Mr. Nyaga said despite transport challenges aggravated by the floods in Iresaboru, the exam officers managed to deliver the papers safely. The affected schools are Malkamanza and Iresaboru Primary schools.
A total of 4,482 Grade Six candidates – 2,255 being boys – are sitting for Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) exams across the county’s 149 centers.
