Bungoma County has topped the list of counties that registered the highest number of underage candidates who sat for this year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exams.
The county is said to have presented 2,139 candidates, which is the highest among all the 47 counties in this nation.
The increase in the number of candidates who sat for KCPE was also reflected at the national level where the population of underage students increased from 4,955 in 2015 to 17,069 this year.
Uwezo Kenya Country Co-ordinator John Mugo noted that parents are among the greatest contributors of the rising number of underage candidates sitting for KCPE in the recent past.
"If a child sits the KCPE exam at age 12, it means they were admitted in Standard One at four years old. I think at that age the children are not well developed and are just being pushed to grow faster than they should," Mr Mugo said, as quoted by The Standard.
He added: "Enrolment at early ages should be discouraged. Children should get to Standard One at seven years because at that point they are emotionally and psychologically developed and ready to do class work."
This comes after education PS Fred Matiang’I surprised the nation after he released results earlier than expected.