By Betty Luke
More than 1000 Isiolo learners, expected to have transitioned from primary to secondary school in 2017 did not sit for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination in 2020.
According to the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC), 1,464 learners who were part of the 100 percent transition pioneer class (did KCPE in 2016) did not take the national exams.
A total of 189, 419 learners, 101, 684 being girls, across the country were expected to have transitioned to secondary schools in 2017 out of which only 752, 891 registered for KCSE four years later.
Only 747, 161 sat for the papers, leaving more than 5, 000 learners unaccounted for.
Teen pregnancies, early marriages, drug and substance abuse, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and abject poverty occasioned by Covid-19 pandemic have been blamed for the situation.
The transition policy was introduced by the government in an effort to ensure that all learners who completed primary education were enrolled in secondary schools and sit the KCSE exams.
Local administrators and primary school head teachers were tasked with ensuring that all children who sat for KCPE were enrolled in secondary schools.
