A student at Obunaka Boys Secondary School in Luanda Vihiga County caused a stir when he refused to sit his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams without smoking weed first.
The incident occurred last Wednesday, just a few minutes before the start of the morning paper.
The student declined to enter the examination room, citing his inability to remember what he had revised for the Christian Religious Education Paper 2 and History and Government Paper 1. After thorough interrogation by the officials in charge, it emerged that he had not smoked the weed.
Efforts by exam officials to convince the student to sit the first paper hit a snag, and they summoned the parents of the student.
The parents were shocked by their son’s behavior and pleaded with him to sit the exams.
However, the student remained adamant, insisting that he could not sit the exams without smoking weed first.
The school administration was forced to involve the police, who arrived at the school and took the student into custody.
The police officers tried to reason with the student, but he refused to budge, insisting that he needed to smoke weed before sitting the exams.
The police officers had no choice but to take him to the police station, where he spent the day in custody.
The incident has sparked outrage among parents and education stakeholders, who have condemned the student’s behavior.
They argue that such behavior sets a bad example for other students and undermines the integrity of the KCSE exams.
The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has also weighed in on the matter, warning that any student found engaging in such behavior will face severe consequences.
The incident comes amid growing concerns about the integrity of the KCSE exams, with reports of cheating and exam leakage becoming increasingly common.
The government has taken several measures to curb exam malpractice, including the deployment of security personnel to exam centers and the use of technology to monitor the exams.
However, education stakeholders argue that more needs to be done to address the root causes of exam malpractice, such as inadequate preparation and lack of motivation among students.
They are calling for a comprehensive review of the education system to ensure that students are adequately prepared for the exams and motivated to perform well.