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"id": 599573,
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"speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Zani",
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"legal_name": "Agnes Zani",
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"content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, the KNEC was set up in 1980 to focus on Kenyan examination matters. What existed previously was the East African Examinations Council (EAEC). At that point, it was about examinations in terms of accuracy of presentation of the results and reliability and validity of those results. That was the key mandate of KNEC. That Act was later replaced by Act No.29 of 2012, repealing the previous Cap.225 Act of 1980 trying to make sure that the KNEC becomes a stronger unit. It has already been mentioned by other Senators that the idea was to make sure, for example, disseminating results to students is done very effectively. Already, the law allocates that there should not be any withholding of any certificate. Unfortunately in reality, this is what has happened over time. Therefore, many students ended up suffering because they cannot get their certificates. We know that without primary and secondary school level certificates, there are some people who can get jobs, but they do not because they cannot show their results. In Kenya, results are not given orally, but in the form of a certificate. So, the certificate becomes something very powerful that an institution can give. Madam Temporary Speaker, for many years, it is the schools that have had that power. When we were debating this Bill at the Committee and also the public participation level, what came out very clearly was the balance between the payment of fees and the quagmire of most schools that they decided to withhold the certificates because that way, they felt they could make parents pay. We did not want a situation where people then decide that, why should I pay and at the end of the day, I will still get the certificate? There are different sets of parents and, at that point, we wanted to believe that there are no parents who just make the decision not to pay just for the sake of it. Therefore, we had to be careful that we have a balance, that, we do not open it up too much to the point that even parents who could pay, decide they will not pay because they can get away with it. If there are certain school fees or provisions by the secondary schools that are expected to be paid; it is expected that the parent will pay. Therefore, getting that balance was critical for us. That balance and ensuring that, that child gets the certificate, at the end of the day, will be balanced by removing the responsibility from the school. Initially, it is not even the child who should be punished. In the first place, it is the parent’s responsibility to ensure that, that fee has been paid. If we punish the child by withholding that certificate, we are actually punishing the wrong person. The idea also was to ensure that one way or another, that balance is created very well. Various ideas were given, one of which Sen. Kisasa has just mentioned. If there could be a way of balancing out so that you hold this student accountable in one way or another, in some kind of loan or fees so that, that certificate is 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."
}