Pupils may miss exams over papers

• Parents plead for time to acquire birth certificates

Many secondary and primary school learners due to sit this year’s national exams could be locked out for lack of birth certificates.

The new guideline on birth certificates was announced last year by Education minister Sam Ongeri while releasing the Kenya Certificate of Primary Examination (KCPE) results.

It is meant to track candidates and to tighten loopholes that have led to impersonation during KCPE and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE) examinations.

However, some parents have protested against the new rule as their children who are in Form Four were asked to go home and come back with the certificates, making them miss classes. They appealed to the government to give them time to secure the documents.

Tana Delta district education officer (DEO) Ahmed Abdallah Ali said they were waiting for a circular from the Kenya National Examinations Council before making a formal statement to parents.

He said the move by headteachers to register students with birth certificates was meant to notify other parents to make quick plans and ensure their children obtained the crucial documents before late registration in May.

Equal chances

“Although the exams council has not dispatched the new guidelines, we enforced the new measures so that all children sitting the national examinations secure birth certificates,” he said.

The DEO assured parents that the government would provide equal chances to all children while registering candidates.

“At the end even those without the crucial documents may be registered but we don’t want parents to relax and wait for the last minute rush.”