Two candidates for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) of Poi Mixed Day-boarding Secondary School in Baringo North sub-county to miss the KCSE result for agriculture paper two after failing to write the exam over alleged theft of mattresses at the school .
Benson Chebi and Bismarck Ruto failed to sit their final agriculture paper two exam after they were threatened that they would be arrested by police officers who were taking the exam for allegedly stealing two mattresses from the store.
The third suspect, Mark who ran away, also came back to write his final exam paper and luckily slipped out of the hands of the police officers later.
“That morning on Thursday morning, we woke up in a happy mood in the hope that we would finish our KCSE exams well,” said Ruto, a one-day scholar of the institution.
“If we fail to get our KCSE results, it means that our life is spoiled for no apparent reason,” Chebi said.
He said he was resting his mind at school that morning, waiting for papers, when he was suddenly called into the principal’s office, only to be asked to surrender two mattresses stolen from the school’s store.
“Although we honestly told him we never committed a crime, he ordered us to kneel, beat us up before asking the police to arrest us,” Ruto said.
The boy further said that the police took him to his hostel and rented house, where they conducted a thorough search, but the said stolen mattresses were not found.
He said that he was asked to return to class, while Moikuto was ordered to bring handcuffs to the police to arrest him, but for fear of being taken into custody without error; “We had to disappear and run for our lives,” he said.
“I am a day scholar living with my brother at the Poi Trading Center and I also wonder how I managed to break into the school store to steal a mattress under the watch of the storekeeper or the school janitor would have been,” said Ruto.
Confirming the incident, Baringo North Sub-County Education Officer Kiprono Lagat said that the two boys would never get a chance to sit for the agriculture paper again.
“Unless their parents appeal to the Ministry of Education and KNEC, students can appear for the exam next year,” he said.
The boys and their parents are now appealing to Education Cabinet Secretary Professor Magoha to intervene and investigate the matter.
“Of course, how could my child fail to write their final exam because of a stolen mattress, even if they stole it, they should be left to finish their paper, then we’re going to have to pay the parents? can be called for,” said a devastated James Kiptala. He is one of the parents.
He reiterated that his child was the scholar of the day, wondering how he had managed to break into the school to steal a mattress from the school shop.
Another parent, Pamela Ruto, accused the school administration of harassing her child and preventing her from taking her final exams.
“The principal told me that my son is scared of exams and disappears. I sold all the family land and cattle to pay him school fees, thinking he could finish his studies and come home to help me, but what am I listening to now? She questioned.
Amidst the pain, the government should intervene and help her and her son get justice, she said.
Paralegal activist Milka Rotumoi heard about the incident and did some investigation into the matter. She was shocked to find out that the boys had been threatened and could not write their final exams.
Terming the incident as unfortunate, Rotumoi called on humanitarian agencies to intervene and help the affected families get justice.
