15 reasons many candidates are failing to sit KCPE exams

Concern has been raised over the increasing number of students who fail to sit the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams even after registering for the tests.

An analysis of the just-released 2021 exams shows 11,523 candidates failed to write the tests. This may be a drop from the 12,424 who failed to sit the tests in 2020 but the trend is nevertheless worrying stakeholders.

In 2019, at least 5,530 Standard Eight candidates missed the exam. 

Players in the education sector are demanding to know why so many candidates are missing exams, the situation being worse in the last two years.

Some have blamed it on the registration of candidates which is normally done way before the tests.

"We need to register candidates during the examination year, not a year before the scheduled time of the tests. There is a likelihood that some candidates may drop out of school due to pregnancies or earlier marriages, among other factors, hence the increasing statistics," according to the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) secretary-general Akello Misori.

His Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) counterpart Collins Oyuu shared the same sentiments saying the long period, between registration and the examinations, could be responsible for absentee candidates.

He said child marriages, child labour and teenage pregnancies are among other factors leading to the increasing numbers of absentee candidates.

Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) registered candidates for KCPE exams while they are still in Standard Seven. The examinations body argues that registering candidate early allows it time to plan.

"The problem with the early registration is that students may drop out of school before the exams and this may be because of many reasons," said Emmanuel Manyasa, Country Manager of Uwezo Kenya, an organisation involved in the push for increased access to education to improve literacy and numeracy levels.

Manyasa said: "Early registration of candidates is done to ensure there is enough time for planning purposes. This is because we have attached too much value to examinations."

It had also emerged that some of those who miss the exams cannot be traced.

In the 2021 KCPE exams, Nairobi had the highest number of candidates who registered but did not take the tests at 863. Other counties were Meru (644), Turkana (589), Kakamega (583), Nakuru (561) and Trans Nzoia (524).

Isiolo County had the lowest number of absent candidates. Out of the 4,053 registered KCPE candidates, only 26 candidates failed to turn up for the exam.

Oyuu said the prolonged school closure due to the outbreak of Covid-19 also affected many school-going children. "Some parents married off their children," said Oyuu.

The Knut boss said some children are giving up on education due to the hostile environment at home. There is also examination fever that has contributed to the high number of candidates avoiding the tests, he said.

"Some of the children face cruelty at home. Because of this, some disappear and others opt to live with relatives who may not be keen to take them back to school. We appeal to parents to take care of their children and prioritize their education,” said Oyuu.

He added: "Some children just become truant and may disappear from home. Some of such students have ended up in child labour, both locally as well as across borders."

Insecurity and drought that have hit various parts of the country over the years have affected the administration of the tests, forcing many candidates to miss out.

In February 2022, it was reported that there are around 3.1 million food-insecure people in pastoral and marginal agricultural areas, a 48 per cent increase since August 2021. In the entire East African region, over 12 million people were faced with drought.

Parts of the eastern Horn of Africa have experienced severe drought conditions due to poor rain seasons with a significant impact on crop and livestock production, vegetation and water resources, as well as soil moisture.

As of January 2022, the worst affected areas (and experiencing the driest conditions since 1981) were the southern pastoral areas of Ethiopia, northwest Kenya, and large parts of south-central Somalia.

Manyasa said: "We have had difficulties during this year's exams as a number of counties were facing drought and villagers were migrating in search of water and pastures. For parents, they would rather their children miss the exams than risk their lives due to insecurity.” 

Manyasa, who is an education expert, further noted that fees-related demands have also forced many students out of school.

“Even as the government talks about free and compulsory education, not every child who has attained school age is actually in school,” Manyasa said.

Mr Misori claimed some schools register 'ghost' candidates to comply with Knec's rule that requires every examination centre to have a minimum of 30 candidates, hence the increased absentee candidates.

“We have also realised that there were many registered candidates who did not want to take up the exam. We had many cases of indiscipline, especially after prolonged school closures following the pandemic, and a lot of children lost interest in school,” said Misori.

Child labour, drought and teenage pregnancies were the main reasons cited to explain why many candidates are missing KCPE exams in most regions.

In Embu and Meru, education officials linked the absence of candidates from examination rooms to the lucrative sand harvesting and muguka farming businesses. It emerged that many students leave home in search of casual jobs as sand harvesters or on Muguka farms.

In Tana River, it emerged that some students register for exams then disappear. It was reported that the county has many out-of-school students.