Shock has gripped the education fraternity in Amudat district after a girl student from Pokot senior secondary school was forcefully married off just three days to sitting for her examinations.
The student whose name has been withheld had just turned 18 years and had finished paying for registration fees for the national O'level examinations.
She had even undergone the pre-exam briefing. But tragedy struck when she went home briefly to check on her sick mother, when she was grabbed and forcefully married off.
Bonifes Eculu the head teacher Pokot SS said the girl was very bright and was especially doing very well in science subjects.
He said the arrangement to hastily marry off the girl to a Kenyan rich man was made from her home.
"They convinced the girl that her mother was very sick and had no one to help her," lamented the head teacher. "So the poor girl rushed home to see the situation of the mother, only to be forcefully taken to Kenya for the man to marry her. We are feeling a lot of pain for her and for our school community!"
Anthony Lowoth the district education officer of Amudat said early marriages in the Pokot community are still a big challenge blocking the region from benefitting from education.
"Imagine a girl who has been struggling from primary one to senior four, but instead of allowing her first sit her papers, they even denied her that chance, it hurts so much," he said.
