Kisii County Director of Education Richard Chepkawai has refuted claims that the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) failed to register class eight candidates of St Francis Eburi Academy School in Gucha South for the 2015 national examinations.
Speaking to this writer on in his office, Chepkawai instead said no school existed by the name St. Francis Eburi Academy.
He said parents were tricked and conned of their money by a phony proprietor.
"There is no school by that name registered by the Ministry of Education. What was in the ground was just a sketch like structure and there was no learning taking place there previously. The so called proprietor put up the temporary structure to filch from unsuspecting parents and pupils," he said.
A total of 34 pupils missed the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams that ended a few days ago.
The candidates are said to have realised they could not sit for the exams when they turned up for rehearsals, on Monday, a day to the starting of exams.
Parents said they had been charged Sh2,000 per candidate, a figure Chepkawai said was exorbitant and against the law that governs education sector.
“Class eight candidates were only supposed to pay Sh800 for their national exams. Therefore, the proprietor took advantage of the innocence of the parents and candidates and that is why he charged far above the set fee,” he added.
The angry parents and pupils torched the structure of the school before storming and destroying the suspect’s home.
The pupils demanded immediate arrest of the head teacher for the unfortunate turn of events when they were prepared to sit for the exams.
“Its my worst day. I was fully prepared for the exams only to be told that my colleagues and I were not registered by our head teacher. Let him be arrested and charged for frustrating us and be forced top pay back our money. He should also be charged,” said a class 8 pupil.
Edwin Nyaosi, a parent, expressed his disappointment and called for the arrest of the owner of the school.
They (parents and pupils) held peaceful demonstrations to the area education offices to register their grievances.
However, they did not get the education officer since he was out, monitoring the ongoing exams - then.
Area OCPD Richard Muguai told the pupils and parents to remain calm as they launched investigations and interrogate the head teacher, identified as Geoffrey Omoke.
“The police are hunting for the proprietor of the institution who is said to have gone into hiding. I ask parents, pupils and the general public remain calm as we hunt for the suspect. I also ask anybody with information about the head teacher to assist us with information which will lead us to arresting and charging the suspect,” he said.
The director of education has since warned parents against enrolling their children in unregistered and unscrupulous schools.
“Parents must beware and careful with schools they enroll their children in, more especially the coming and wavy ones. If one wants to open a school, there is a procedure they follow to legalise their operation and that is through registering their school through the Ministry of Education.”
Chepkawai added: “Private candidates do their exams in recognised centers through the guidance of education officers.”