By Magati Bw'Obebo
Police with the help of community members were by late Wednesday searching for a Grade Nine candidate reported missing from Gesabakwa Comprehensive School in Masaba South Sub-County, Kisii County, amid heightened anxiety over national examinations.
The boy’s disappearance comes a day after a woman in Jomvu, Mombasa County, was arrested for allegedly preventing her daughter from sitting the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) after objecting to an assessment number containing the digits 666.
The Mombasa woman reportedly believed the number was satanic and allegedly locked her daughter inside their home, prompting police and children’s officers to intervene and escort the pupil to school to sit her examination. .
In Kisii, however, the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the Grade Nine candidate remain unclear, and there is no indication that the incident is connected to the Mombasa case.
According to an incident report, Gesabakwa Comprehensive School headteacher Linet Obara alerted authorities about the missing candidate at about 10.30am.
Officers visited the school and consulted the headteacher before proceeding to the boy’s home in Gesabakwa Sub-location, Nyamagesa Location, within Ibacho Division.
At the home, the officers met the boy’s parents, who confirmed that he had left for school in the morning.
The parents reportedly found examination materials under his bed, although the circumstances surrounding the discovery and its significance had not been established by the time the report was made.
Authorities mobilised community policing members and other residents to help trace the boy.
The search was continuing, with further details on the candidate’s identity, age, last known whereabouts and the circumstances of his disappearance yet to be established.
The two incidents have unfolded as learners across the country undertake national assessments, placing renewed focus on the challenges some candidates and families face during examination periods.
While the Mombasa case involved a reported dispute over an examination number, authorities have not established whether examination-related concerns played any role in the Kisii candidate’s disappearance.
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