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{
    "id": 571627,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/571627/?format=api",
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    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Bill comes to enhance access to that opportunity. Let me also caution that universities have minimum criteria for admission. The fact that there is a university in your county does not mean that they waiver in the minimum criteria for the enrolment of students. The Kenya Universities and Colleges Placement Service (KUCCPS) has set a certain minimum criteria for admission into universities and colleges in Kenya. It requires you to have a C plus to be admitted into a university. There is no way we can bend that kind of criteria to allow people in that county to join the university. We must improve education from its foundation so that we are given quality education that propels us to the next level of learning. It is not possible for us to set up a university in any part of Kenya and say that just because we want to educate our children, we lower the standards. The consequence will be that we will have half-baked graduates. I also encourage the marginalized areas to focus their investment on education from a very formative stage, from ECDE, primary and secondary education because without the minimum criteria, Sen.(Prof.)Lonyangapuo who was my professor in Moi University, will attest that we cannot lower standards because we want to ensure that people have accessibility. We must uplift the standards of education to ensure that people meet the minimum benchmark to be admitted into universities. I want to caution that the mere presence of university campuses and faculties or fully fledged universities in counties will not be a licence to students in those counties to gain admission on account that the university is in that county. They must meet the minimum criteria. Therefore, the setting up of the university should not compromise quality of education, it must enhance accessibility. It is sometimes easier to work within the precincts of your county because it ensures there is no enormous cost on travel, you can operate from your home, therefore, it minimizes the cost on accommodation and your parents continue to tutor and mentor you. It is a question of how many governors or county governments have given emphasis to education or educational institutions, particularly those areas which have universities like Kisii, Kisumu, Mombasa, Kakamega and Nairobi counties. How many are in partnership with universities to ensure they tap to the rich resources of those universities? We cannot assume that the nation can run simply on guess work. Those universities must be engines for development of those areas. It is high time that academicians started engaging in a meaningful manner. I see them teaching students, but our schools and universities hardly collaborate or partner with Government institutions to ensure that they apply their research in a meaningful way. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am in support of this Bill. However, I am in support of the fact that we shall make the necessary investment to ensure that every student is given an opportunity from the very point of birth to have a meaningful access to education and that right is guaranteed. If you look at the civil rights movement in the United States, there was a notion that equality can be build through education. Today, some of us are equal in society largely because we were able to have the benefit of education. If it was simply a question of parentage, eliticism or resources, it is possible that many of us The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}