By Okong’o Oduya
BUSIA : More girls have been reported to sit for the on going national exams than boys in Busia County.
The Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE ) exams started on Tuesday this week with high turn out of girls than boys.
Boys have always been on top of education by having access more than girls in many communities in Kenya where the boy child has always been given priority than girls.
However, this scenario is changing, so much has been done for the girl child and now the boy child is at risk .
Busia County is a good example .
According to Joseph Ochieng, Sub County Quality Assurance and Standards Officer ,a total of 20,934 candidates including 10,515 girls and 10,419 boys are sitting for the exams from the County. Mr. Ochieng said although there are more boys than girls who are sitting for the Standard eight exams, the number of girls who transit to secondary reduces compared to the boys.
“The number of girls sitting on this year’s national exams is higher than boys compared to the previous years. The only challenge is that the number reduces in high school,” he said
This happens hours after the county education director Dickson Ogonya noted that the presence of ‘disco Matanga’ –a type of dance usually done at funerals which attracts so many young people, in the county is affecting the smooth operations of the exams in the county.
Ogonya noted that the latest case is where loud music affected the exams at 9 am even after the exams begun at Ojamii primary school forcing security team to intervene and stop the music.
The music which was few meters away from the school played in neighboring homes to school with funerals affecting candidates’ concentration forcing the county director of education Dickson Ogonya to intervene with officers from administration police. “The music was too loud that it even some locals complained. What shocked us is that the boy who was playing the music blatantly told us he was not aware of the ongoing examinations in the school.” said Ogonya.
The officer is further calling upon ministry of interior and coordination to burn all the disco Matangas in the county until the exam is through. He wanted chiefs and other security agencies to remain vigilant to make sure the problem is delt with forever. He said that this will provide conducive environment for candidates to do proper revision during the exam period.
“This disco Matanga should be dealt with. I don’t see the reason we should condone it at expense of our children especially during this exam period. I am calling upon security agencies in the county to put measures in place to stop the problem,” he noted.
The same sentiments were echoed by Zilper Bett during empowerment session with widows in the county where she said parents and teachers have invested heavily in the candidates and they cannot allow such occasions to disrupt performance of their children in the ongoing national exams.
The officers said that no incident of cheating has been reported as the security for this year’s exams has been intensified with head teachers mandated to pick exams from Education offices’ armory and handing them over to super visors at various exam centers.
Parents in the county are impressed with the tough rules introduced by Dr. Fred Matiang’i, Education Cabinet Secretary to curb exam cheats. “We believe that when the results are released every candidate will reap what belongs to them and not induced results,” A parent noted.
