Gititu Secondary School in Thika East District. Some form four candidates at the school missed their first paper as the 2013 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exam kicked off Tuesday. Sources close to the school alleged that the principal Mr Muturi Ndegwa did not want the students to sit the exam for fear that their performance would bring down the school's mean grade. SAMEUL KARANJA
By SAMUEL KARANJA
Some form four candidates at Gititu Secodary School in Kakuzi Division of Thika East District missed their first paper as the 2013 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exam kicked off Tuesday.
It is alleged that the school's principal refused them entry into the school when they turned up for the exam in the morning.
The principal Mr Muturi Ndegwa has however denied the claims that he locked out seven students from siting their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exam.
Mr Ndegwa Tuesday said only four students had failed to turn up for their examinations adding that they had been missing from the school since first term.
“All candidates who turned up today were allowed to sit their examinations and nobody was locked out.
However, four failed to turn up and they have been missing from school since first term,” said Mr Ndegwa.
Contacted, Thika East District Education Officer Lucy Irungu said some students had failed to turn up for the examination.
"Two boys went away at the beginning of the year but were registered in the hope they would turn up but the did not.
One girl gave birth in second term but she also failed to turn up when the exam started," added the Ms Irungu.
She said another girl also missed her exam while three other students came late and missed the first paper.
INVESTIGATIONS
"We will carry out investigations on the issue to get more information and know what happened," she told Nation.co.ke on phone.
But sources close to the school who were against the move to lock out the learners claimed that the school head had colluded with some education officials in the area to exaggerate the time the students had missed school.
The sources claimed that one student was actually in the school two weeks ago, adding that the move to have the students not sit their examinations was a ploy by the principal to prevent them from lowering the school’s mean grade.
The sources who declined to be identified indicated that some of the students turned up in the morning but were locked out of the school.
The students were only allowed in after the first paper, English Functional Skills Paper 1, was over.
This means that the students will not get any results even after sitting the remaining papers.
This is because the Kenya National Examinations Council only grades and issues certificates to students who sit all the papers that they are registered for.
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