Education officials in Homa Bay have started placing learners who did not sitlast year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exam into secondary schools.
At least 25 of such learners from Homa Bay Town constituency are already enrolled in Form 1 in various secondary schools in the county.
The learners will be placed in different secondary schools based on their performance in their primary schools.
Homa Bay Town Education Director Ziada Osano said her office is checking the marks each learner scored in primary school before placing them in Form 1 in various secondary schools.
"We have a circular from the Ministry of Education guiding placement of students who did not sit for KCPE last year. They are joining secondary schools based on the marks they were getting while in primary,” Osano said.
Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Osano said the ministry has clarified that the students will do another test while in Form 3 before moving to Form 4.
Osano said they are still pursuing such cases as they look for the learners who failed to do the exams.
"We’ll ensure all such learners are placed in Form 1. The government wants to achieve the 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school,” she added.
Among the learners who will join secondary school without doing KCPE is a female student who was in class throughout the year but failed to do the national exam after she allegedly went into hiding during the exam period.
It was reported that the girl was attending classes but failed to sit for the KCPE exam.
"The girl didn’t sit the exams in the three days when her colleagues were sitting for KCPE exams. The girl is said to have been hiding in the toilet,” a report from her school indicated.
The father of the girl said he knew that her daughter did the national exams.
According to him, his daughter was in school like any other learner.
"I gave her money to cater for her meals as the exams were being held. I'm still surprised that she did not sit for the test,” the father said.
Statistics released by the Kenya National Examination Council indicated that some 9,354 candidates failed to sit for 2023 KCPE exams.
Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu revealed the news while releasing the 2023 KCPE results on November 23, 2023.
He said mapping would be done across the country to identify candidates who missed out have them sit special exams before transitioning to Form 4.
This, he explained, was to ensure that no candidate misses out in joining Form 1 from the final 2023 KCPE examination cohort.
