Tragedy struck St. Peters Gathuthi-ini day mixed secondary school in Ndia, Kirinyaga County after a candidate died four days before the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) began.
According to the family member led by Millicent Wambui, Clement Kariuki died on Thursday as he was being taken to Kenyatta National Hospital for specialized treatment.
Wambui said she had been taking care the student since his mother died when he was in class six.
“Clement Kariuki had been suffering from leukemia for the last seven years. He had been on and off the school due to the condition,” Wambui told Citizen Digital.
Kariuki’s uncle Jonathan Gathure said they were optimistic that he would make it to the exam and do his best.
“It is sad that he has died before sitting his exams. He has left very huge hospital bills,” Gathure said.
About 13,567 candidates in Kirinyaga County are sitting for the KCSE exams that kicked off today.
Speaking while leading in distribution of examination papers at Kirinyaga Central on Monday, TSC County Director Isabella Iregi said there are 6365 boys and 7202 girls sitting for exams and 122 other private candidates.
Kirinyaga Central Sub-county Deputy County Commissioner Julius Kavita said the monitoring team has mapped all examination centres to the nearest distribution points so that every school is able to pick its examination paper efficiently.
