•Kennedy Machora, the education officer, said the cases were discovered from 16,000 secondary school students who were tested.
•He spoke on Thursday during a graduation ceremony at New Kerugoya Victory Academy.
Image: FILE
Kirinyaga Central Sub-County has recorded at least 12,000 cases of sexually transmitted diseases among students, an education officer in the County said on Thursday.
Kennedy Machora, the education officer, said the cases were discovered from 16,000 secondary school students who were tested.
He spoke on Thursday during a graduation ceremony at New Kerugoya Victory Academy.
He said upon investigation, they discovered that most students contracted the diseases after engaging in unprotected sex during opening and closing days.
"Baada ya kuchunguza, wale majamaa (students) wanaingiaga ndani ya bus, wanafunga bus, wanakunywa bangi, wanafanya mapenzi ndani ya bus (After investigations, we discovered that the students get into the bus, lock themselves inside and engage in smoking bhang and unprotected sex)," he said.
Machora said students should not be allowed to hire public service vehicles.
He directed that they should travel with the rest of the public, to avoid such behaviours.
Machora urged parents to talk to their children and ensure they keep proper morals.
"Hear me out. On Saturday and Sunday, make sure your children go to church. After church, the father and mothers should sit down with their children and guide them," he said.
The officer said more students could be infected but are unaware.
He called for the need to have an emergency meeting between the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and local security agencies on how to carry out tests in the schools.
He said the education ministry has already reached out to schools to have the tests done on all students.
The aforementioned data is from January to June 2022.