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{
    "id": 940536,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/940536/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 168,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. This is a very interesting Statement, because it raises a number of issues that are deeper than just the deployment of officers. While the Committee is looking into the questions asked, the first thing that we need to hear from the Committee is that the Ministry should tell us what has been the effect, over the years, that they have been implementing these changes when exams are being done. Mr. Speaker, Sir, a few years ago, we would always hear about cancellation of entire results from a school because of cheating, and it happened to many schools. We must ask ourselves what happens to those children who were there, in all honesty, trying to do their exams, yet there were certain unscrupulous teachers trying to help them cheat in those exams. This not a normal situation. Sometimes, desperate times call for desperate measures. The fact that we are sending police officers to schools and possibly that has reduced the cheating, is something that we should be ashamed of; but we must realize that sometimes tough action must be taken. Those police officers are not in the school because of the children. They are there because of the teachers and other members of the public who have actually been helping them cheat. We have seen so many of them being arrested over the past few weeks. Are we saying that just because we do not want children to be afraid of police officers, we should allow some of them to cheat and spoil their entire future, as opposed to making sure that as a stop-gap measure, we employ officers to guard them from cheating? Part of the question must be, “Is this a temporary or a permanent thing? What else is the Ministry doing to look at the systems?” For now, I support it. The deeper question I ask, as a Member of the Committee on Security, Defence and Foreign Relations, is that as we are dealing with police reforms, children are not afraid of police in civilized societies. It cannot be that the presence of police should cause intimidation. In fact, when you get lost in many of these countries, the first person you want to go and ask for directions, even as a child, is a police officer. Those are the bigger questions you must ask. The only person who should be afraid and intimidated by the presence of the police officers should be a criminal. Mr. Speaker, Sir, let us not just lambast a move by the Government because of how it looks. Let us understand the root cause. Were we causing much more damage to these children with a laissez faire attitude, where cheating was going on? Why are we shocked today at the level of moral degradation and decay that has been happening in society over the years? The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}