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{
    "id": 662303,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/662303/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 82,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Manje",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1669,
        "legal_name": "Joseph Wathigo Manje",
        "slug": "joseph-wathigo-manje"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me this chance to contribute to this very important Motion. Ranking was abolished by the Cabinet Secretary and he said that it contributed to cheating. He also said that schools do not have equal facilities in the country and some students are drilled towards examination and that reduces the ability of a student to manipulate life. However, in my opinion, these are not the reasons why he should have not allowed ranking to continue. If the argument is lack of facilities, then the Government should concentrate on that and ensure that all schools have equal facilities. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I want to support this Motion by Hon. Chris Wamalwa because there is strength in lists. The reason we have numbers, from one to infinity is because it is there for a purpose. We want to rank and many people would love to have the best. It is natural that ranking has to take place. The reason we know the strongest animals is because they are ranked by their strengths. We also know good universities because they are ranked. The same applies to schools. The difference between Alliance High School and another school is because they are ranked. It is through ranking that I know Maasai High School in Kajiado North, which is said to be here today, is one of the best performing schools in my constituency. In the process of curriculum development, there are various stages. The first one is the development of curriculum which is done by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD). After that, there is the implementation stage that is normally done by teachers and the evaluation stage done by the KNEC. If after evaluation there is no ranking, then the process will not be complete. So, I advocate that they should complete the process so that the curriculum can be evaluated properly. There is one thing that we have achieved as a country. We might not be there in politics and other things but when it comes to education, our people are highly educated. If you go outside this country, you will know Kenyans are educated and we can only attribute this to the good schools that we have, the good curriculum and the ranking that has been there. There is strength in ranking. Any student, for example, who went to Alliance High School or Mang’u High School had very high chances of succeeding in life. This means it is also a motivator. It is a catalyst to one’s achievement in this life. Ranking also helps the Government and policy makers to make decisions. For example, if there is a school like Oloolaiser School in my constituency not performing or performing better than another school, I would like to know why the other school is not performing. Maybe they will tell me they have few classes or they have fewer facilities. It can only be realised from the way they are performing. Teachers evaluate themselves on how they make students pass. If you remove ranking the way it has been done, then everybody will relax. Most of the teachers will relax because at the end of the day, they will not have a motivator. There will be no gauge to know whether this school is performing better than the other. That one will discourage the competition that we have in schools. This will dilute the level of education in our country because if there is no ranking, it means the level of education will go down. The Cabinet Secretary said schools should not be ranked because he realised that most of the private schools are performing better than Government Schools, especially in primary school. He wanted to equalise private schools and 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."
}