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{
"id": 1108604,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1108604/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nominated, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Wilson Sossion",
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"legal_name": "wilson sossion",
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"content": "outcomes and mechanisms to measure the progress. Our Government is dedicated to ensure that teachers and educators are well-trained, professionally qualified, empowered, adequately recruited, motivated and supported within well-resourced, efficient and effectively governed systems. The 2021 World Teachers Day with a befitting theme “Teachers at Heart of Education Recovery” comes at a time when Kenyan teachers are disoriented, demotivated and feel abandoned by the State especially in the period when the COVID-19 scourge is exacerbating educational inequalities across the country. For Kenya’s already fragile education system, the coronavirus pandemic has generated unprecedented challenges for teachers, learners and parents. These have already exposed some of the cracks in the country’s education system particularly on poor infrastructural development strategy, low budgetary allocations, teacher shortage, inadequate teaching and learning resources and worse of it all, hurried implementation of the Competency Based Education (CBE) without any plausible research data. Hon. Speaker, education is the most important productive asset most people will ever own. Apart from its economic effects, education is intimately linked to socio-cultural and political inequalities. It is important to note that education is at the heart of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and essential for the success of all the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While recognising the important role of education, the UN 2030 Agenda highlights education as a stand-alone goal (SDG 4). In the same spirit, the Incheon Declaration observes that teachers are the key to achieving all targets in the Education 2030 Agenda. Hence, in the wake COVID-19, teachers need to be fully supported since they are at the heart of education recovery. Teachers need to be empowered, adequately recruited and remunerated, motivated and supported with adequate teaching resources. I call on the Government of Kenya to make available adequate resources to hire all qualified teachers on permanent and pensionable terms who have stayed out of employment for over five years after training as an urgent action towards protecting the profession. Immediate engagement of teachers after training makes them good teachers. Hon. Speaker, since teachers are central to teaching and learning, they should be continuously encouraged to play a critical role in policy reforms. More so, teachers have actively participated in crafting legally binding instruments such as treaties, conventions, memoranda of understanding, protocols, as well as international recommendations and declarations on the right to education through the Global Voice Education International (GVEI). This alone is enough to honour the role the teachers play to ensure successful education policy reforms. It should be appreciated that where important progress has been made in education, especially in terms of adequate coverage of curriculum, better constructed schools and increased supply of teaching tools - textbooks, guides and other resources - at least a teacher has been involved in one way or the other. Therefore, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it should be realised that tutors can equally play a significant role to ensure successful education policy reforms. Hon. Speaker, I wish all teachers in the world a Happy World Teacher’s Day. I wish Susan Hopgood, the President, and David Edwards, the General Secretary, all the very best as they rally teachers worldwide towards the delivery of quality public education within the SDG framework. For teachers in Kenya, it is aluta continua through one united front. I humbly ask this House to rise to the occasion and support all legislative policy and budgetary reforms towards strengthening the teaching profession. I thank you, Hon. Speaker. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}