This archive report was first published on 25 November 2019.
On November 25, 2019, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha revealed that 5,530 registered candidates did not sit the 2019 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination.
Although this number is lower than last year's, it still raises concerns about the premature dropout of students from the education system.
Failure to complete an educational level and attain certification is a significant waste of government and individual resources invested in education.
It also signifies unfulfilled aims, goals, and objectives for individuals, communities, and the nation.
While various reasons have been given for candidates registering but failing to sit exams, these are often based on assumptions and generalizations.
For instance, it is assumed that candidates in correctional facilities may have been released before the exam and did not wish to return to the prison environment.
However, this assumption may not be true for all such candidates.
Dr. Emily Nyabisi, director of Mount Kenya University's Nakuru campus, emphasized the need for credible information to be sought from exam centers to establish the specific reasons for each student missing the exam.
Heads of schools and other exam centers should be tasked to liaise with relevant stakeholders, including candidates' families, to gather factual information.
Only by doing this can the ministry and other government agencies develop realistic measures to mitigate against candidates failing to sit national exams after registering for them.
