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{
    "id": 662291,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/662291/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 70,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Njomo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1784,
        "legal_name": "Jude L. Kangethe Njomo",
        "slug": "jude-l-kangethe-njomo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. Yesterday I was talking to Hon. Wesley Korir and he was taking me through the hard work that the runners do as they prepare to participate in marathon competitions. They work so hard so that they can win these marathons. I would like to congratulate him as he was in position number four in the concluded Boston Marathon. They do this because they want to win. They want to be champions and be at the front. This spirit makes people work hard. When we eliminate competition and ranking in our schools, we are telling our students who are represented today by our visitors who are in the Gallery that they should not compete or work hard. I would like to support this Bill so that we can bring back the spirit of competition to our schools. We can make our students recognise that they will get top positions if they work hard. That is why I support this Bill. However, we cannot compete with those who are not our equals. It will be very important for these schools to be classified into categories of equal strength. We know there are national schools, county schools and extra county schools among others. We should have ranking of schools of the same class and this will rid us of unfair competition. One of the reasons why the Ministry had found it wise to eliminate ranking was because of the rampant cheating that was happening within our institutions. We should work as a nation to eliminate that culture of cheating from our schools. We should make our students appreciate and understand that it is only by working hard that you can get better positions. We can only do this by us in the political leadership being good role models and showing the students that working hard and following the laid down procedures is the only route to get to the top.I am saying this because we have had cases of corruption which I can equate to cheating in our schools. It is only by eliminating it and fighting it, that we can show our pupils and students that we do not want them to cheat. We also need to device a way of rewarding and appreciating pupils who do well. We have had problems where candidates who have sat for examinations and have performed very well do not get vacancies in secondary school. This is the case and yet candidates who performed poorly get vacancies in those schools. This encourages cheating because they all want to move on to the next level. We should, therefore, ensure that those candidates who perform well are rewarded by getting to the next level according to the grades they get. To discourage cheating, there should be very stiff penalties for those who are found to cheat. In fact, it should be equated to a death sentence. I do not mean that they should be killed, but academic death sentence. If you cheat, then get your grades, it means you have taken positions that should have been taken by others. Therefore the candidates who are found to be cheating, should get academic death certificate and they should not resit their examinations. Those who facilitate cheating, whether they are staff members from the KNEC or teachers, should be punished severely so that we get rid of cheating. We should also recognise the fact that not everybody should be rewarded academically. This is because not everybody can do very well in academics. We should recognise that even those who do not perform well academically have other attributes and talents that can help them, help our nation and propel them to better heights. It reminds me of a gentleman called “Bill Gates” who was not able to go through his university because he was not able to perform well but he is one of the richest people in the world today. He is also one of the people who have facilitated technology through Information Technology (IT) in the many activities that we do. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}