11 miss KCPE exams at Shimo la Tewa Prison over registration

Eleven candidates did not begin the primary school national examinations with their counterparts at Shimo la Tewa Prison in Mombasa on Tuesday.

The pupils from other parts of the country were sent to the borstal at the prison but their names were not in the list of registered candidates.

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Only 33 candidates were registered.

"The 11 were not registered at the borstal. That is why their papers were not there," said a top Coast education official who did not want to be named.

An education official privy to the matter, and who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Kenya National Exams Council (Knec) decided that the candidates will take the exams next year.

Contacted, Knec chairman George Magoha said the pupils could not be given exam papers because they were not registered at the centre.

Prof Magoha said they could not compromise the whole examination because of the few candidates.

"Some people want to use that as an avenue for leakage. We cannot allow this. Let us not sensationalise the issue," he told the Nation by phone.

Sources further revealed that one of the candidates was sent to Mombasa on Saturday, three days before the exams.