Kenyan student pregnancies shocker

Standard Eight and Grade Six examinations ended yesterday without any major hitches, even as marking kicks off immediately.

The development, however, came as a section of Narok Members of County Assembly (MCA) raised concern over the high number of teenage mothers sitting the national examination in the country.

This is after the office of County Commissioner announced that some 248 girls, 140 in primary and 108 in secondary school were among the candidates sitting their exams in the county.

The MCAs called on parents to guide their girls during the holiday so that they do not engage in retrogressive cultural practices that affect their education.

Led by the County Assembly Leader of Majority Dominic Lemain, the MCAs blamed the parents for not taking their role seriously, asking them to spend quality time with their children during this holiday.

“Retrogressive cultures such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and teenage pregnancies lag our society behind. We need to shun these practices and embrace modernity,” he said.

Lemain, the Ololulunga MCA, also called on churches and other institutions to also help in guiding and counseling the girls to avoid early pregnancies.

Mogondo MCA Kipsang Mibei lamented that a big number of children are dropping out of school because of retrogressive culture yet the government puts in a lot of money in terms of bursaries.

He said the high trend of teenage pregnancies in the county is worrying.

“As leaders, we will sit down and do a thorough research to establish why our county is always ranked top in teenage pregnancies. We want to know whether it is the long distances between the schools and the homes or it is because of poor upbringing of the children,” said Mibei.

To draft Bill

The MCAs said the will draft bills that will help in reduction of teenage pregnancies and help the already affected girls.

In Kajiado, four candidates sitting the Kenya Primary Schools Education Assessment (KPSEA) and Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) delivered.

A 14-year-old Grade Six pupil and a Class Eight candidate from Ilbissil Boarding Primary School gave birth Tuesday afternoon at the Ilbissil Health Centre.

Another Class Eight candidate from Oiti Primary school also gave birth at Il Bissil Health Centre Tuesday evening while another candidate from Loitokitok is also reported to have given birth Monday shortly after sitting for the Mathematics paper.

The four candidates gave birth without any complications and continued with remaining papers at their hospital beds.

According to County Commissioner Harun Kamau, some 124 candidates sat the will exam while pregnant in the county. Among the 124 pregnant candidates, 10 were Grade Six pupils, 28 were Class Eight candidates and 86 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) candidates.

In Murang’a, two Grade Six girls were among 66 expectant candidates who sat their exams while none others were KCPE students. Kandara Sub County has the highest number of expectant candidates recording 21 cases followed by Murang’a South with 16 cases.

One candidate from Kigumo will be sitting her KCSE exam while Mathioya Sub County has reported two cases. Murang’a County Director of Education Ann Kiilu said all the expectant  Grade Six and KCPE candidates were present during the exams.

Develop labour pains

She however was afraid that some of the expectant KCSE candidates might develop labour pains before the end of the examinations slated for December 23.

“None of the pregnant candidates for KPSEA and KCPE did an examination in the labour ward but for those sitting for KCSE we may have cases of delivery,” Kiilu noted. She said arrangements have been made to ensure candidates who may go into labour are facilitated to continue with their exams.

There was no expectant candidate in Khwisero sub county schools during the ongoing countrywide exams.

 According to the area director of education Genetrix Amatha, such cases were never experienced in any of the schools within the region.

 “I am glad that we have no such cases of pupils being pregnant and sitting for their exams outside the school during these exams (KCPE and KPSEA),” she said.

 At the same time Acting Deputy County Commissioner Shadrack Munyao said they had deployed enough security officers to man examination centres all over the area for credible examination results.

“All officers involved in the exercise are working as a team. This exercise must run smoothly without any hitch as you can see, “he said.

– KNA

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