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{
    "id": 391699,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/391699/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 248,
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    "content": "The issue of the physically challenged children was mentioned. This is one area which we have neglected. Many of these children are at home, not because they do not want to go to school, but because there are no facilities that can assist them to learn without difficulties. I support the recommendation that every school must ensure that it facilitates children with disabilities to access education. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the way we knew it, village polytechnics are the reason we managed to get the artisans that we have today. That is why we had been promoting polytechnics like the Nairobi Polytechnic which had been the backbone of supplying this country with persons with technical skills. There was also the Mombasa Polytechnic, the Kisumu Polytechnic and the Eldoret Polytechnic. The mistake we are making or we have made already is to convert these into universities. Therefore, we need to go back to the drawing board and restart these polytechnics, so that we will have artisans and people who can look at our buildings and so on. So, the curricular ought to be changed in order to make sure that these polytechnics are there because any country that does not have technical people; the middle level personnel to carry out the development of the nation forward, cannot succeed. During the last few weeks, I have been raising the issue of KCSE certificates. Unfortunately, the Committee appears not to have managed to look into this issue critically yet it is one of the very critical issues facing our education today. Yesterday, Form Four students started doing their examinations after 12 years of education. What is happening is that those students from poor families, after doing 12 years of education pass and believe me, they pass very well and then their certificates are held by heads of schools. These students cannot access education. Therefore, we, as a nation, pretend to be looking after the poor of this nation. I think we are being very unfair to these students. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to thank the previous Government because in 2006, as you are aware, we passed a Motion. The Government agreed to release all the certificates that were held by institutions up to 2006. This was done. It relieved parents and students. Those who had been unable to get employment managed to get employment because they had documents to prove that they had gone to school. But from 2007 to date, heads of schools are keeping certificates of poor students. There is no one who would go to school for 12 years, do an examination and refuse to take the certificate to enable them go and look for a job if they were able. But because of poverty, they are not able. Last year, as you are aware, the National Assembly of which I was a Member, passed the Kenya National Examinations Council (Amendment) Bill which outlawed the withholding of certificates by anybody or by any institution. Today, as I speak, we are still arguing with the Cabinet Secretary for Education who is saying that he cannot release those certificates and yet there is a law to that effect. If President Kibaki ordered the release of certificates in 2006, by a mere Motion of the National Assembly, why can this Government not release those certificates because there is a law? I think the Standing Committee on Education, Information and Technology should investigate this issue and ensure that those certificates are released forthwith in order to be able to get those students off to work. 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."
}