Lamu, KENYA: KCPE candidates from terror prone areas in Lamu have been transferred to safer centers where they will sit their national exams expected to kick off on Tuesday.
Speaking in Lamu on Monday, Lamu West Sub-County Education Officer Josphat Ngumi said 18 KCPE candidates had been transferred to Witu primary school, 21 kilometers away due to security concerns.
“We have already moved all KCPE candidates in terror prone areas to secure areas where they will peacefully sit their national exams. We undertook the initiative due to security concerns and also infrastructural challenges facing many of these areas. We want to make it easy and safer for exam officials to deliver exams and also for the students to safely and peacefully sit those exams,” said Ngumi.
Learners from terror prone Basuba ward had been moved to a safer center at the Mokowe Arid Zone primary school in Lamu west earlier this year to enable them continue with learning.
This year,10 pupils from the Boni community will be sitting their KCPE exams at the centre which offers boarding services to its students.
The school head teacher Omar Ile said a total of 50 candidates will be sitting their KCPE at the centre this year.
“Out of the 50, ten are from the Boni community who were moved from Basuba and other terror prone areas. We have made all the necessary arrangements to ensure the students will be comfortable and safe for the three day period of their exams.
The education office has also merged 10 schools into one exam centre since the individual schools couldn’t meet the minimum threshold of 15 candidates required for them to qualify as exam centres.
They are Mapenya, Ndambwe, Sese, Heshim, Lakeside, Juhudi, Kakathe, Ocean View and Ngoi Primary schools in Lamu West.
Meanwhile, the security department in Lamu has assured parents,teachers and candidates in the region of adequate security as the national exams kick off.
Speaking in his Lamu office on Monday, Lamu county commissioner Joseph Kanyiri said “We have deployed an additional number of security officers in border areas and schools to ensure safety and I am confident that the situation is at its best,”said Kanyiri.
This year,Lamu has a total of 2,985 KCPE candidates out of which 1,521 are boys while 1,464 are girls.
