KCPE Candidate Commits Suicide Over Ksh20

Residents of Adungosi village, Busia County, are in mourning after a Standard 8 pupil’s body was discovered in a farm on Tuesday, January 12, 2021.The pupil who was set to sit for his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams is said to have committed suicide after he was allegedly accused of stealing Ksh20.Residents flocked the scene of the incident wearing sorrowful faces. File image illustrating a hangman’s noose.Twitter The incident comes weeks to KCPE exams which are expected to run from March 22 to March 24, 2021, with rehearsals for the exams slotted for March 19.The incident adds to a worrying trend of suicides among learners in the country over recent years.In September 2019, 14-year-old Jackline Chepng’eno, a pupil at Kabiangek Primary School in Bomet County, committed suicide after her teacher ridiculed her for soiling her dress on the onset of her periods.She is said to have committed suicide moments after she told her parents of the ordeal.In the same month, September 23, 2019, a 13-year-old girl committed suicide after her parents punished her for not coming home after school.She is said to have spent the night out only to return in the morning, something that attracted anger from her parents. She was subsequently punished by her parents, but then took her own life in her room.WHO reports that 800,000 people commit suicide yearly worldwide.Even more shocking is the fact that suicide has been singled out as the second leading cause of death among 15- to 29-year-olds.While cases of suicide are poorly recorded in Kenya, the upsurge in the coverage of suicide-related deaths is an important indicator of the urgency with which resources ought to be deployed to reduce these otherwise preventable deaths A Kenyan Police Officer pictured at a crime scene.Facebook