Two inmates serving life imprisonment will be among the 39 candidates sitting this year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) at the three Kericho GK prisons.
In an interview with KNA, Officer-In-Charge of the prison, Assistant Commissioner of Prisons (ACP), Wilfred Kati, said prisoners are encouraged to go back to school upon conviction.
He exuded confidence that the inmates would perform well, adding that the Prisons Department had continued to support the education program fully.
“A total of 39 prisoners from Kericho GK prisons will be sitting for the 2022 KCPE. Twenty prisoners are from Kericho GK Prison, thirteen are from Kericho GK Medium Prison and six are from Kericho GK Women Prison. I am positive they will perform well since their trained teachers have adequately prepared them for the national examinations,” he said.
Kati said education is an important tool of rehabilitation of prisoners since it provided an avenue for a prisoner’s transformation, to become better persons in their communities.
The Kericho Prisons boss revealed that those who excel in the national examination will be transferred to prisons equipped to cater for inmates pursuing secondary school education, where they will have the opportunity to continue with their learning.
A Senior Welfare Officer, Joseph Maritim, noted that ignorance is one of the prime factors that make a person commit crime and that education for prisoners behind bars was key to achieve rehabilitation and reduce recidivism.
“If you randomly check most of the crimes committed are due to illiteracy and education for prisoners will help them know the outside world and save them from relapsing to their vices,” said Maritim.
“After taking exams and results come out, those who will have succeed will be transferred to different prisons. Women will be transferred to Nakuru Women’s Prison, while the men will be transferred to Naivasha or Kamiti Maximum Prisons, where they will continue with their secondary school education” said Kati.
One of the trained teachers who doubles up as a prison warden, Evans Kamau Mwangi, said the inmates were ready for the national examination as they were adequately prepared and had completed the syllabus and was positive that they would perform better than last year’s class of Kericho inmates who sat for the KCPE while behind bars.
“I am confident that this year we shall have a mean score of 250 marks unlike last year were we had 209 marks. The best inmate scored 307 marks and this year we hope the best student will attain 350 marks and above. We are well prepared and good to go,” said Mwangi.
An inmate serving life sentence for murder at the prison facility, Ezra Kiprono Ngetich, 35, from Bomet County, expressed optimism that he would perform well as he had covered his revision adequately.
“I am confident that I will excel in my KCPE and score 300 marks and above. I had a lot of anger issues and this is what led me to commit this offense in 2012 and was convicted in 2017. I opted to go back school after dropping out in class seven and this has helped me in my anger management,” said Ngetich.
41-year-old Geoffrey Kibet Kirui from Kericho County, serving life imprisonment for defilement, said he opted to go back to school soon after getting convicted in June 2017 and was hopeful that one day he will be pardoned and become a better person to serve his community.
This year’s KCPE exam will be done between 28th and 30th November.
By Sarah Njagi
