Of all the weird things that could have happened on day one of KCPE exams, perhaps the most dramatic was when two girls eloped to get married on the exam day.
Now I know that several instances were reported on Tuesday, chief among them was when a girl gave birth in a hospital in Kericho minutes before her maths paper.
As if that is not enough, Sarah Nekesa named her newborn baby after Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed.
But it seems the real drama was in Kilifi County, where two girls failed to turn up for their exams after they reportedly got married. The incident happened in Magarini sub-county.
Magarini Deputy County Commissioner Simon Lokorio said locals claim that the two girls from Kaembeni Primary School got married in the nearby villages.
“The girls, who did not turn up for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations, could also not be traced in their homes,” he said.
One of their teachers, who sought anonymity for fear of victimization by her bosses, said the two girls aged between 15 and 17 had developed a ‘negative attitude’ towards education.
“The two were rarely attending school and they were too rude to their teachers,” he told the Nation by phone adding, “They used to view school assignments and home work as a total waste of time.”
However, the DCC said they are still following up the matter to establish the exact place where the girls are currently located.
At the same time, Mr Lokorio revealed that early marriages and pregnancies among young girls are on the rise and warned those luring young girls into early marriages and pregnancies.
“I have directed chiefs and police officers to hunt down and take legal action against those men preying on young school girls for marriage and sex,” he added.
Kilifi County Commissioner Magu Mutindika and Governor Amason Kingi have banned ‘disco matanga’ in a move aimed at improving school attendance and eradicating teenage pregnancies. ‘Disco matanga’ refers to a night disco at funerals.
Kilifi Woman Rep Gertrude Mbeyu Mwanyaje who champions girl child education in the county has also launched an aggressive campaign against disco matanga.
Recently, Ms Mwanyanje appealed to the county commissioner to direct police to be arrest children attending the banned night event and swap them with their parents once they go to seek their release.