Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1166332,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1166332/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 130,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13162,
        "legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
        "slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "I, therefore, support this Bill without any equivocation because I believe it has been drafted by two eminent Members of this House who understand how education ought to be. I also take note of the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution which has given responsibility for ECDE, vocational training institutes and village polytechnics to county governments. Special needs education cuts across all these institutions. Therefore, we must start thinking about it from early childhood, primary, secondary and university level. This becomes an important shared responsibility between the national and county governments. When you talk about disability, there is a lot of stigma that is associated with it, yet it has been said for a very long time that disability is not inability. In many cases, disability has been caused by poverty. In fact, many a time, you will hear people say that one is poor and disabled. They are poor because they are disabled and disabled because they are poor. In many cases, it is poverty that has driven many young children not to undertake even proper immunization and early childhood healthcare initiatives that they end up with cases of disability. I am glad that Kenya is one of those countries that has largely eliminated polio, which in many years that have gone, was one of the major causes of disability amongst the population. I still see in my village elderly people who became disabled as a result of a weak vaccinations regime back in the days. You will find that they missed certain vaccines. A result, they suffered polio and other diseases that were easily preventable. I am glad that even though we are still battling poverty, illiteracy and disease, the aspect of disease that causes outright disability because of issues like polio have been bought largely under control. I hope that there will not be a resurgence as has been seen in places like Nigeria where religious beliefs are turning people away from getting conventional vaccination and health initiatives. Madam Deputy Speaker, as I have said earlier, special needs education needs to be looked at from all levels. I do not think we should be generally advocating for segmentation or separation of special needs students from the rest of the population. I believe we should advocate for an integration framework. It might not be feasible for us to say that the percentage of Kenyans who have special needs should be segregated and placed in different institutions that only cater for their needs."
}