HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 112537,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/112537/?format=api",
"text_counter": 244,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Prof. Ongeri",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Education",
"speaker": {
"id": 124,
"legal_name": "Samson Kegeo Ongeri",
"slug": "samson-ongeri"
},
"content": "Indeed, I even suggested on the Floor of this House and in our Budgetary proposal to Treasury, that, not only did we need the 6,000 permanent and pensionable teachers, but we also needed an additional up to 10,000. By so doing, in a period of four years, we would have been able to clear the shortage along this economic stimulus package which was intended to reduce the acute shortage of teachers. After one or two years, the 12,500 teachers would have also been converted into permanent and pensionable terms. Unfortunately, this particular aspect of it was misunderstood by the KNUT and KUPPET. We have tried to come to terms with them on the way forward in dealing with this matter. These are actual figures based on the current enrolment of students in respective primary and secondary schools needs. Last year in the Budget, the total enrolment for secondary school was 1,347,000. Currently, the total enrolment in this year is 1,470,000. We are almost clocking 1.5 million children. We know that over a period of time, we will be able to reach at the critical figure of 1.6 million in secondary school. In fact, we may reach there before 2015. In the primary school, since 2003, the enrolment figure has risen from 5.9 million children to 8.6 million children currently. So, given those enrolment rates and given the net enrolment in our schools now is 92.5 per cent, it is, therefore, easy to tabulate and get the number of teachers required for deployment in all these respective schools. So, we cannot pick figures out of the air and say we need ten teachers when in effect we know through the enrolment rates and numbers, what exact teachers are required. Therefore, for the avoidance of doubt, let me again repeat, we now have the latest figures of the shortages in the secondary circle as 23,000 teachers. In the primary circle, it is 42,000 teachers. So, we have a total of 65,000 teachers."
}