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{
    "id": 1166370,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1166370/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 168,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "I want to thank the President Uhuru Kenyatta as well as the First lady because it is the First Lady helped us push for it and was able to give us a bus. I got a bus with special facilities at the back to get wheelchairs in and the bus was handed over to Simaton. It goes round Nairobi picking up some of these special needs children. It is not enough; it is a drop in the ocean. Mr. Temporary Speaker Sir, the strength of a country is not based on its foreign exchange reserves or its military but on what the country does deliberately for the less fortunate and for the vulnerable in society. No child chooses to be born with special needs. No family, no parent chooses for their child to be born that way. However, today, the only children with special needs who are able to have a fair chance at life are those of the rich because the rich are able to take them to institutions that cater for them. Many years ago, when Nairobi was working- I keep saying let us make Nairobi work, we had a lot of these units in our schools. In my primary school we had a deaf unit for children with hearing impairment and there are many whom to date are my friends that went through that education. Of course they would take a bit more time, but they were able to learn and be taught. Many schools had those centers; it has not been done. Hon. Rachel Shebesh tried a bit when she was a Woman Representative, to introduce a lot of these facilities in schools with the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF) but it was not enough. Hon. Pasaris has also gone on with it. We need a legislative framework to make sure that we are able to provide specifically in each and every ward or constituency, units. When you cluster either three or four schools one of them must have special education teachers, classrooms, and facilities that these children will require. That is something that we will definitely need to do. Mr. Temporary Speaker Sir, I know of even family members and friends who have really struggled with children who have autism and they do know where to take them. You find that even some schools that are well-to-do, I will not mention here but I was really surprised that some of these very high-cost private schools do not have teachers who understand some of these special needs. Beyond this Bill, there needs to be a proper discussion with education stakeholders on how we make sure--- We take children to school for a reason and not just to pass time. If you look at the statistics that are coming out, that almost 90 per cent of children in fourth grade are reading at the first-grade level. What are we doing? Are we just keeping children busy and then we will have a whole generation that is not educated? That should not be the case. We need to take education a bit more seriously. This experiment called Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) is not working. It is a challenge to many parents and to their children. When you tell a student in an informal settlement or in the rural areas to go do an assignment and print it, where do they print it? Some of these things are good in theory or on paper but they are not practical. Sen. (Dr.) Musuruve, where you come from, some of these things they are asking for in Lugari, Kakamega, cannot be done. Let us give people an education. When I did 8- 4-4, I think I was behind most of you who are here now, but, in as much as we had many subjects, it was practical. By the time I was in class eight, I knew how to stitch clothes, make a frame loom, do some carpentry. 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."
}