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{
    "id": 1016710,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1016710/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 314,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "Very early on, we agreed to accept that there is no education in 2020. What is the rush? We must accept that education will not happen in 2020. They started telling us that there are lessons on television. If you switch on the Kenya Television Network (KTN) today, you will see Class Six, Science. Tomorrow, it is Class Three, English. What curriculum is that? Not all children across the country can access the internet, phones or radios. Even televisions are not everywhere. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we have not built the capacity of our schools. I can assure you that in Nairobi, because of the huge numbers, they will not social distance. I have not seen new classrooms being built. Why does he want children to go to school in October, yet we have not provided that facility? Teachers have not been trained even on the psychosocial issues of how to counsel these children. Our children cannot be the guinea pigs, to see how this virus behaves. If anything, they should be last to be opened up. This is because once you open up education, you have opened up the transport sector and many other sectors. For those of you who have young children, what we know is that children may be asymptomatic, but they are the worst carriers. Have you ever gotten a flu from your child? You will be bedridden, when your child is jumping up and down. They might not get sick themselves, but they will go back home to their parents and grandparents, and we will see a spike. I urge the CS to stop this rush. Let us build the facilities. I have seen the executive running helter skelter looking at desks. They are telling us that they are giving each school 50 desks. I have schools in Nairobi with more than 3,000 students. What are 50 desks for? I have donated desks across this county; in Kibra, Roysambu, and it is a drop in the ocean. If you give me 50 desks per public school, yet the population of a school is 1,000, what distance are you talking about? Is this another scandal that is coming up? Has it been properly thought out? Instead of using that money for that, let us use that money to see how we can properly provide for a double intake in the next year. We will have a new Class One, and so, we will have two groups of Class Ones and two groups of Form Ones, if we do exams. Otherwise, there is no rush. It is already October. We have November and December. Let us wait and start the education calendar properly. I know that many Members want to speak. There is the issue of economic cushioning. We earlier on had commitments of around Kshs200 billion. In fact, the CS said that there is a grant coming from our partners in Europe that would create a Credit Guarantee Scheme for Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that have been hard hit by the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). 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."
}