Two KCPE Candidates Drown in School Trip Hrs to Final Exams

Students sit for a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE) exam
Students sit for a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE) exam on November 6, 2019.
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KNEC

A search operation was mounted after two class eight candidates aged 14 years drowned in Theta Dam, Gatundu South, Kiambu County, during a school excursion.

Reports alleged that the learners went for the school outing after concluding their rehearsals on Friday, November 25, 2022.

The pupils from ComeJuu Premier Academy in Githunguri, Kiambu, were set to sit for their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations on Monday, November 28, 2022.

According to the headteacher of the institution, 60 pupils from Class 8 and Grade 6 were taken to Kinale Forest to break the monotony after a long busy day.

Theta Dam
A photo of Theta Dam in Gatundu South Constituency, Kiambu County.
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Institutions are known to engage in different traditions during and after national rehearsals to motivate candidates ahead of the final examinations and ease off the tension and pressure.

Police officers drawn from various stations in the area joined the search operation to retrieve the teenagers' bodies.

"The operation kicked off after the boys slipped into Theta Dam at around 4:30pm on Friday November 25," police detailed.

Expert divers with better gear and equipment were expected to join the search party.

Theta Dam is 17-metres high and reinforced with a concrete spillway stretching all the way to the Mundoro Forest edge.

The drowning incident came weeks after a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) candidate died in Kirinyaga County. 

Reports indicated that the student drowned in a tour of Mt Kenya at Castle in Gichugu Constituency. 

She was among 200 students who went hiking in the mountain for a recreation exercise. 

Comejuu Academy
A photo of Comejuu Academy's school bus located in Githunguri Constituency, Kiambu County.
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Comejuu Academy
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