Candidate Delivers As 2023 National Exams Start

A candidate for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination gave birth on Tuesday hours before sitting her science paper.

Tinderet Sub-county Deputy County Commissioner (DCC), Esther Oyugi Odhiambo, confirmed that the pupil successfully gave birth at the Meteitei Sub-County Hospital, Nandi County, on Tuesday morning.

Odhiambo confirmed that the young mother was in stable condition and proceeded to sit for the Science and Kiswahili papers in a nearby exam centre as the second day of the KCPE exam went on.

“Doctors said the minor underwent a normal delivery and was fit to sit for exams. Therefore, we made arrangements to have all her examination papers for the day delivered to a nearby exam centre to enable her to proceed with the examination without challenges,” said the DCC in an interview with KNA.

On the other hand, another male candidate sitting for the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) exam was rushed to the Meteitei Sub-County Hospital for treatment after he developed health complications on Tuesday morning.

Odhiambo confirmed that medics attended to the minor, and he managed to sit for his exams at a nearby centre.

The deputy county commissioner decried that the heavy rains that the area experienced on Sunday night hurt the exam due to poor roads, causing delays in distributing the exam papers.

Odhiambo confirmed that the national examinations were marred with paper mix-ups that affected three schools in the Sub County.

“KPSEA exam scripts have details of the candidates printed; today, we witnessed a mix-up in packaging where scripts belonging to candidates from a particular centre are packed together with those of another school located several kilometres away,” disclosed the commissioner.

The mistake affected Chemamul Primary, Tinderet Primary, and Kapkeno Academy, where the candidates had to anxiously wait for the arrival of the right exam materials.

At least two other schools in Tinderet Sub County found question papers belonging to another school, despite the outer cover bearing their correct details.

“Kimwagi and Kapchanga Primary Schools had correct school details on the outer package cover of the KPSEA exams, but all the scripts inside belonged to another school,” she observed.

The administrator, however, stated that this was the first incident of a mix-up of the national examinations in the area.

However, the DCC confirmed that the area has not reported any security breaches during the national examination period owing to the heightened surveillance by police officers in all the examination centres.

The area, Odhiambo said, had 4967 and 3687 KCPE and KPSEA candidates, respectively, with boys composing the higher percentage.

Tinderet Sub County further registered 15 adult candidates for the 2023 KCPE examinations, 8 being male and 7 female.