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{
    "id": 662381,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/662381/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 160,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ogolla",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1264,
        "legal_name": "Gideon Ochanda Ogolla",
        "slug": "gideon-ochanda-ogolla"
    },
    "content": "If ranking is not done, then employers look at what one scored. Did one have grade “A”, “B” or “C” before being called to the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) or to the Bridges Institute. There are definite things which employers will always look out for. So, if this is the direction and the situation we find ourselves in, the best way is to get a proper way of doing it and not deny. We are trying to put our heads in the sand and assume that things are fine. In this country, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has not done us a fair job as a department over a period of time. From the year 2000 to date, they had registered five times the number of schools that we had between Independence and the year 2000. They registered schools with no idea of where they are in every village in this country to an extent that, there are schools in this country that have 90 teachers and yet, in the constituency that I represent, there is an average of six teachers in a school. Those students are expected to sit the same examinations. The Ministry has cumulatively failed this country. There are certain things that they need to look into, but they have totally failed. I am isolating the registration of schools specifically because if the Ministry was seriously looking at what it takes for a school to be registered, it would have put some certain parameters. Immediately we register those schools and assume that they are the same and subject them to the same examinations, then there is a big problem. We have to agree at this moment in time that schools are not the same and they are subjected to the same examinations and, definitely, there must be outcries. The question that is coming from Bura and other places will definitely be there. There is no way a small group of people who are struggling or a small minority suffering somewhere will hold the idea that ranking should not be there when it is there anyway and going on. Students from North Eastern or other hardship areas are normally given lower marks. They have lower entry levels to the university or to Form One. In fact, Maranda High School in my constituency takes students from North Eastern with much lower marks. So, those arrangements are there. When we have all those, I do not think it is good to assume that some of those things will be answered the way we are trying to do it here. Ranking is necessary and, as we rank, we must agree that examinations are necessary. Immediately we have exams, definitely, we must rank. When we have grading, we must rank. When we are scoring, that is ranking. When we are doing whatever we are doing in terms of awarding marks, even if it is internal examinations in a class, you grade a student based on the scores – whether one has 70 and another one has 40. Immediately you do that, you are ranking. Those who score 70 marks and above are in class and they know who are able to score those kind of marks. That carries on and on. This idea that we are so examination-based; the idea that we are so academic in terms of our educational approaches can be solved in a different way, other than looking at ranking. We can look at the issue of the best in terms of academics. We are talking about an all-rounded person yes, but we can do it differently. We can do the appraisal arrangement differently and the examinations can be done differently. In my view, ranking will have to be there. I want to believe what brought the whole idea of non-ranking was the issue of cheating, which has been alluded to here. In the last two years, there have been a lot more cases of cheating than any other time. It is when we did not have ranking. So, the whole thing of looking at in-depth arrangement of how examinations are conducted in this country is important. The Ministry as at now is trying to do much more in terms of reforming the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC). I think there was a big rot in the Council. Immediately all those things are cured in terms of how we are able to protect our exams; how we are able to set exams; how we are able to facilitate the movement of exams and how we are able to monitor how the 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."
}