Irene Githinji and Charles Muasya @PeopleDailyKe
Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha is proposing that the names of parents who deliberately refuse to pay school fees arrears for their children so that they can access their certificates be referred to the Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs).
He said schools should undertake an audit of cases where parents have genuine reasons for being unable to pay fees arrears so that their children can get their papers.
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“It is not true all certificates being held are for those students who cannot pay their school fees; there is a sizeable number who can afford to pay but have refused…do I have the permission to take them to CRB,” said the CS, when he appeared before the Education committee yesterday.
But Members of the National Assembly want the government to implement an earlier policy that barred school heads from withholding KCSE certificates of students over unpaid fees.
Magoha said he would implement government policies to the best of his ability, adding that officers who are not ready to do the work have no business being part of the sector.
“Poor people can be identified because schools know them and have their certificates released,” he said.
The National Assembly Education Committee, led by Tinderet MP Julius Melly, said a majority of Form Four-leavers are missing out on career and employment opportunities in public institutions for lack of the KCSE certificates.
Address concerns
The MPs want the CS to rein in county education directors and have them supervise the process and legal action taken against parents found having the capacity to pay but have not done so.
Meanwhile, Magoha expressed concern over the high number of university students dying in unclear circumstances.
In a speech read on his behalf by the administrative secretary, John Okwanyo during the 6th graduation ceremony at South Eastern Kenya University (Seku), Kitui, yesterday, the CS asked university authorities to monitor and address rising concerns of the students to avoid fatal incidents.
