Ministry moots new plan to end detention of students' certificates

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba says the ministry is working to end the persistent issue of headteachers withholding learners certificates. [File, Standard]

National examination candidates may soon be able collect their certificates from sub-county education offices, following continued defiance by some schools following a government directive not to withhold them over unpaid fees.

In a new proposal by the Ministry of Education aimed at ending the practice, schools would receive only copies of the certificates for record-keeping, while original documents would be issued directly to the candidates.

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba indicated that the ministry is exploring alternative measures to address the persistent issue of headteachers withholding learners’ Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) certificates.

“We issued a circular, and while a number of institutions complied and released the certificates, others have not. We are now considering options to ensure learners are not disadvantaged in future,” said Ogamba.

He cited the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) Act, Section 10, which prohibits any institution from withholding certificates of learners who have completed their studies.

He made the remarks during the Lake Region Kenya Association of Technical Training Institutes (Katti) ball games, held at Siala Technical Training Institute in Rongo, Migori County, over the weekend.

To prevent disruption to learners’ progression, the Ministry is considering two main options: either sending the certificates to sub-county offices for direct collection by students, or dispatching the certificates to the candidates’ home addresses, while providing copies to the schools for their records.

Ogamba said withholding certificates does not solve the issue of fee arrears.

“If a certificate has been withheld for that long and the fees have still not been recovered, then clearly, the strategy has failed. That’s why we are saying the matter of fees should be handled differently,” he said.