Kilifi and Kwale are the leading counties in the Coast with the highest number of average students, according to the recently released Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education results.
Out of the 20,621 candidates who sat last year’s KCSE examination in Kilifi, at least 11,782 were 20 years of age and older, which is no longer considered an age for high school.
At least 3,440 candidates were over 22 years old; some 3,717 were 21 years old; and 4,625 were 20-year-olds.
In 2022, the region recorded a total of 12,005 candidates over the age of 20, with Kwale county having more than 6,114 candidates who were over 20 years old.
According to the Ministry of Education, at least 2,370 candidates were 20-year-olds, while 1,900 were 21-year-old students and 1,844 were over 22 years old.
Prof Gabriel Katana of Pwani University attributed the problem to poverty and the late admission of children to primary and secondary schools.
He said unwanted teenage pregnancies, where girls get impregnated trying to look for basic needs, are also a huge contributor to late school entry.
Prof Katana, a former Kilifi education executive, said that in many cases, students in the county might grow up to 11 years before they are taken to school.
“In urban areas, you will find that children join pre-primary classes at a very young age, while in rural areas like Kilifi, parents take their children to school at the age of 11 years, yet by this time they are supposed to be in the upper class," he said.
The county, he said, conducted a survey on the issue and submitted a report to the county director of education.
“There is a need to sensitise parents to ensure children join school at the right time,” he said.
Children providing for their families at a younger age is also an issue, which has also led to late school entry. Prof Katana said that some the children, instead of being in school, do manual work to provide for their families.
“Being a student while at the same time fending for their families has also contributed to the problem. We have children who go in the forest to burn charcoal for sale; some are found at the quarry blasting stones for sale instead of being in school,” the former Kilifi education executive said.
“We even have those who drop out of school to do the operation as boda boda to provide for their families. They do not finish and go back when it is late at an old age. Therefore, the major aspect here is more of poverty so to speak, because even young girls are easily convinced and in the end, they get impregnated.”
Profi Katana says there is need to come up with a special programme that those going back to school at an old age can fit into to avoid mixing up with the young ones.
"Schools need to come up with advanced studies for students of old age; this will help in separating them from the young ones because mixing them up is a bad influence on the young ones.”
"They also feel they are not in the right place, making the schools incompetent," he said.
Mombasa recorded a total of 9,005 candidates over 20 years old, as Taita Taveta county had 1,406, Lamu had 956 and Tana River had 946 over-age candidates.
