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{
    "id": 1214892,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1214892/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 311,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Seme, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) James Nyikal",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "God – that is, if you are a Christian, or by nature, that is, if you are an atheist. They are literally the messengers of God and they should not be ignored even if they are powerless. The Ministry as a whole had five major policy changes which are clashing within a very short period of time. We had 100 per cent transition, localisation which then became delocalisation of teachers, and we changed the teacher training policy from certificate to diploma. This resulted in many teacher training colleges becoming almost empty. These are issues of planning and not concept. We have the problem of funding of the universities. All these five policies were so major that they needed meticulous planning. I said that the CBC is a very good concept but there are areas where planning failed us. Hon. Temporary Speaker, on human resource, one teacher cannot teach 12 areas. It is not possible and we needed to look at that. On infrastructure, we needed classrooms, workshops or laboratories, whatever we call them. We even started by building classrooms in secondary schools, then we turned around. That is a problem of planning and not concept. We did not prepare parents. Very few parents thought that when their children are moving from standard six to seven, they are going to spend Ksh15,000 but they were shocked. That is a problem that we must look at. Even the pupils themselves were not prepared. Some of them are now going to walk long distances because of the way we planned the schools. It is a question of poor preparation. I know we can achieve this and we need to. On the way forward, many of my colleagues have said that in infrastructure, let us go back and plan. I can predict that in 10 years’ time, all schools will start from Grade One up to university because you have no way since all schools have to have junior secondary schools. You are not going to have children walking 11 kilometres at this stage. We are all going to have them. The exam will be university entrance, which will be like what happened in 1962, when the Common Entrance Examination was removed and all people moved from Standard One to Standard Eight. The concept of primary schools and intermediate schools disappeared, and we had primary schools. I think that is where we are headed. Let us plan the infrastructure, let us face it and finance it. On teachers, let us re-tool. There are children in primary schools and teachers are teaching them. Some teachers are competent, re-tool them. There are teachers with diplomas and degrees in primary schools, re-designate them. Let them go and teach. In short, let us re-look at this thing. We either plan it or stop it. Otherwise, we are going to destroy a whole generation of students. It is something that we must go forward with, but we must plan it properly and save our children. We do not want one generation of children who say that we lost out."
}