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{
    "id": 542231,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/542231/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 241,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Dawood",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2572,
        "legal_name": "Abdul Rahim Dawood",
        "slug": "abdul-rahim-dawood"
    },
    "content": "Thank you very much, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. At the outset, I want to support this Bill. It is a good move for Hon. Emmanuel Wangwe to bring it. When the Member for Muhoroni mentioned Prof. Kaimenyi, I think he should have known that Prof. Kaimenyi is one of the best Cabinet Secretaries we have ever had for the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. A few gaps here and there do not qualify him to be the worst. I support this Bill in the sense that it is good that we do not pay examination fees. We have seen instances where examination fees are paid by the students in some of the schools but the principal runs away with the money and never registers the students. At the end of eight or four years of secondary school education, the students think that they are going to do the examinations whereas the principal has run away with the money. They discover that they cannot register though they may want to. It is high time the Government paid for this. However, I think we are doing it in a lopsided manner, in that it is just being proposed for public schools. We do not take our children to low cost private schools out of choice. It is because we do not have public schools in some areas or we have some public schools which are not doing very well because of teacher absenteeism and all that. So, though we take our children to low cost private schools we need the same extended even to them because it is very important and they are all our children. It is enshrined in the Constitution that education is a basic necessity but it does not say that it should be private or public. If this Bill will be amended, it should include the private schools. Regarding the education standards in our country, those in my constituency have gone up. However, we have a problem. The other day we had an intake of police recruits and students were asked for school leaving certificates and results certificates despite the fact that some schools hold certificates of those who have finished school. We have heard it from the Departmental Committee on Education, Research and Technology. The Vice Chairperson was here and one of the members of that Committee, hon. M’eruaki is here. They categorically stated in this House that even if people have not paid school fees, they should be given their certificates."
}