The Kenya Certificate of Primary Education and Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) examinations have kicked off smoothly in Tana River as County Commissioner Thomas Sankei decries low retention rates in secondary schools.
Tana River has 8641 and 9605 candidates sitting for KCPE and KPSEA examinations respectively while 2511 candidates will sit for KCSE Examination.
“Tana River we are set to go and as you can see, we have dispatched the exams and all headmasters have picked the exam papers and head to their respective schools. We expect a good start and a good finish,” said Sankei in Hola where he witnessed the distribution of KCPE and KPSEA examinations.
He added that Tana River is doing well in the transition of students from Primary to Secondary but is grappling with retention challenges once the students have joined secondary schools.
Sankei for instance said only 2511 out of the over 5000 that had transited to secondary school in the region four years ago would sit for KCSE as the rest had dropped out.
“What is going on in Tana River, why is the dropout so high, even if some have gone to other schools, they cannot reach 1000, where are the others,?” he posed.
The County Commissioner vowed to convene consultative meetings with education stakeholders to address the challenge. “It is something that we leaders need to sit down and talk about. Let’s talk with all education stakeholders to know what is troubling Tana in terms of education. Even though we have our own problems; drought, people migrating here and there, poverty, that cannot be the reason for having that kind of dropout,’’ he said.
By Sadik Hassan
