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{
    "id": 1506193,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1506193/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 519,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nyamira County, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Jerusha Momanyi",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The Constitution of Kenya, 2010 provides that every child should get education. We are looking at the Higher Education Loans Board Act, which hinders any student who is below 18 years from accessing loans. This is discrimination of the highest order. The HELB assists students from very poor backgrounds. Those of us who went through colleges were taught that children come from different backgrounds. Sometimes you find fast learners and slow learners. Fast learners sometimes finish school before they reach the age of18 years, which is the age limit contained in the Act for proceeding to university to access loans. We cannot continue to have an Act which is punitive. Even the legal framework of current university education funding model and the Board has loopholes which have caused some students to drop out of college. University students are about to sit for end of semester exams. We know that the funding Board has been taken to court and, therefore, it cannot facilitate anything now. The Ministry has to give directives on what should be done about students who are supposed to benefit from the fund but they have not because of the pending court case. As a country, we should know that we are doing badly. We have made students drop out of universities and even go to places where we cannot trace them simply because of laws that do not make sense. I want this House to pass this Amendment Bill. I also urge the Ministry to give good directions on what ages students are supposed to be in school, right from nursery. If such directives are there, then they are not followed. There are no good guidelines. The country is in confusion. We cannot waste students’ lives because of laws that are confusing. With those remarks, I support the Amendment Bill and urge this House to pass it."
}