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{
    "id": 1214885,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1214885/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 304,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Gilgil, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Martha Wangari",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I also rise to join in congratulating Hon. Peter Kaluma for bringing this very important Motion to the House. Hon. Temporary Speaker, you realise that this Motion has received overwhelming support from both sides of the House. This is because it does not matter which political divide you are from when it comes issues of education. When you touch education, you touch the core of society and even of this House. As the previous speaker, Hon. Cynthia Muge has said, we are also parents. I am a CBC parent too. So, we also interact with these issues as they come. I also want to make it clear from the start that when we improve or even positively criticise a system, it does not mean that we are fighting the Government or we do not want the best for the Government. I say so because junior secondary school initially was to be domiciled in high schools. We are the same people who actually rose in our places to oppose it because I would say in Gilgil, I have 76 primary schools and 36 secondary schools and the question was, how do you cover the 15,000 square kilometres for children to go to secondary schools? So, we have good reasons. Such decision is not informed by emotions. It is informed by what we encounter every day. That is to show that the improvement has not started now. Initially, Grade Seven pupils were to go to secondary schools. We made a policy change at the Ministry to ensure that they are domiciled in primary schools. Why? It is because of reduced distances. When we push to improve this very good system, it is not blindfolded. I want to say clearly that what has driven this to come to this point is the small money that we received for the NG-CDF. When we were allocating bursaries, I interacted with parents asking for money to support them to take their children to junior secondary schools. We still do not have 100 per cent transition to ordinary secondary schools. What we are dealing with are 10- year-olds, 11-year-olds and 12-year-olds who are going to drop out from school. What has that done? It has brought back issues of early marriages in many communities, and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) so that they can be married off. We are talking of a generation we have messed up in our policy and guinea pig kind of interventions. It is a sad story. When we speak, it is not that we oppose the Government. It is not that we do not support the Ministry. It is only 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."
}