Editorials

EDITORIAL: Review exam regulations

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The high number of teen pregnancies reported recently suggests that girls remain extremely vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation. FILE PHOTO | NMG

A case in which three parents are seeking to have the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) compelled to administer supplementary exams to candidates who happen to be pregnant during the period for the tests is currently before the courts.

Its outcome will no doubt be determined by the weight of evidence adduced by the parties involved.

But the level of concern so far raised about reports of a high number of candidates sitting this year’s KCPE and KCSE exams across the country calls for a wider public debate around the issue.

Girls have traditionally been marginalised in society, and parents in some communities are still reluctant to take their daughters to school. Gender-imposed roles, which tend to apportion a bigger responsibility for domestic chores to girls than boys in most families, put them at a significant disadvantage in terms of school performance.

The high number of teen pregnancies reported recently suggests that girls remain extremely vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation.

Making such girls take crucial national exams under the difficult conditions associated with pregnancies or fresh births amounts to further victimisation and reduces their chances of scoring the grades required to proceed to secondary school. There is definitely a strong case for giving them supplementary exams.