Lamu,KENYA:A KCPE candidate at Kiongwe primary school in Mpeketoni failed to sit for his final paper after he failed to show up at the school on Thursday morning.
Peter Mburu,18,who is yet to be found,is left to have left home for school but is instead believed to have gone into hiding since he didn’t want to sit the exam.
His father Kariuki Maina said he wasn’t aware his son hadn’t arrived at school for his final paper until he received a call from teachers who frantically informed him of Mburu’s absence.
Speaking at the school on Thursday afternoon shortly after conclusion of the last KCPE paper,the distraught father said he was worried for his son’s safety since his whereabouts were still unknown.
Maina however said his greatest disappointment was that his son didn’t get to finish his exams and pursue a good future.
“I am at a loss at the moment,I don’t even know where to start looking for him since I don’t know where he is up to this moment.He hasn’t even called, neither has anybody reported seeing him.But I am praying that he is safe wherever he is.Its only unfortunate that he didn’t get to finish his exams.Maybe he would have passed and gotten into a good high school to become someone,”said Maina.
Efforts by teachers at the school to search for him so that he would sit the paper were futile as no one knew where to find him.
A teacher at the school however informed journalists that the missing boy has had discipline issues for a long time and is also a notorious absentee.
“He has always been a discipline case and we have really had it tough with him.He has rarely been attending school but we didn’t expect him to fail to show up for his last paper having done all the rest.His fellow pupils had reported that he had threatened to sabotage the entire exam since he just didn’t feel like doing them,so to some extent,we are not so surprised but still we are concerned about his safety wherever he is,”said the teacher.
While confirming the incident on Thursday,Lamu County Director for Education William Micheni said the boy had showed up for all the other exams but failed to show up for the final Social Studies exam.
Micheni said this was the first and only incident reported during the entire course of the KCPE exams in Lamu.
“We have information that the student didn’t show up for his final paper and is nowhere to be found.Efforst to search for him so he could join his classmates were futile as so knows where he went to.We are investigating and are actively searching for him,”said Micheni.
A total of 2,985 KCPE candidates sat their exams in Lamu this year.
