Education Cabinet Secretary, George Magoha is in pursuit of shielding the role of State owned agency in verifying academic certificates from local and foreign institutions.
Magoha is seeking Attorney-General, Kihara Kariuki’s intervention in shielding the role by the Kenya National Qualification Authority (KNQA).
“The purpose of this letter is, therefore, to seek guidance and support on the review of Part III of the KNQF regulations,” the January 19 letter reads.
Magoha said inconsistencies with certain sections of the KNQF regulations as the root cause of the conflict between the regulators.
“The key mandate of the KNQA is to provide for the development of a National Qualification Framework, it is important to amend the regulations to avoid a scenario where other sub-sector players will have overlapping and conflicting mandates with KNQA,” Magoha said.
The Education CS wants changed, Section 10 of the rules which provides for recognition, equation, and approval of foreign qualifications.
“This regulation is inconsistent with the provisions of section 8 (1) of the Act which stipulates that the authority shall establish standards for recognition of national and foreign qualification,” he said.
This comes after a parliamentary committee, during last week’s session, deemed KNQA’s role in verifying academic papers as illegal.
In an attempt to prevent Parliament from limiting the powers, Magoha urged the AG to guide the ministry in amending the regulations in order to avoid sub sectors in Education from conflicting the disputed roles by KNQA.
There have been wrangles in court over KNQA’s role in the verification of academic papers after a petitioner had moved to court arguing that the Authority had no powers to approve national and foreign certificates.