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{
    "id": 1251944,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1251944/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 395,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sifuna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13599,
        "legal_name": "Sifuna Edwin Watenya",
        "slug": "sifuna-edwin-watenya"
    },
    "content": "I was asking Sen. Crystal Asige, for instance, how you can make a swimming at a school and ensure that it is accessible to all PWDs. She was educating me that there are things called grab rails. I do not know if anyone here has ever heard of them before. They need grab rails and slip resistant tiles. She even described that the swimming pool has to have a certain slope. The slope from the shallow end to the deep end has to have a certain gradient of I think 1.2. I do not even know what that means, but that is what she told me. It is important to see things from this perspective. In fact, school is not just about classes and classrooms, but also play and recreational activities. When other able-bodied students take part in certain activities, we should not leave PWDs out. I am happy that particular component has been captured. The Bill places certain responsibilities on the counties. They include providing the infrastructure that we are talking about. If you are going to have all public schools in Nairobi City County accessible to all persons and not just people on wheelchairs because disability takes many forms, we should invest in infrastructure and that will cost us money. The Bill talks about setting up of resource centres and having a teacher in each school, who is able to instruct learners with disabilities. Of course, that will come with extra cost to our counties, which is why as a foremost defender of devolution and a fighter for greater resources to go tour devolved units, I continue to insist that we as a Senate must do more to make sure that our counties are better resourced. This is so that they can take care of the new responsibilities we keep imposing upon them as a Senate. This is another Bill that will add a fresh responsibility that requires extra resources by the counties. You will remember we passed the County Vocational Education and Training Bill that also requires that counties set up vocational training centres. That is additional cost that counties have to bear and we must provide the resources. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, finally, I learnt that under Clause 24, the Bill also provides that there be established resource centres in each of the counties. The Bill expresses that resource centres be put up by the Cabinet Secretary. That is basically assigning the responsibility to the national Government. Resource centres in each and every county are supposed to have equipment, sign language interpreters and something that is referred to as a shadow teacher. I did not know what that is, but again, I am fortunate to sit next to Sen. Crystal Asige. She said that if you have an able-bodied teacher, who has not been trained on how to instruct PWDs, then you need another teacher to shadow them, so that learners with disabilities can have somebody to explain to them in the language or medium of instruction that they understand. We talked about that. I am happy with the provisions of the Bill. I take this opportunity to congratulate Sen. Crystal Asige. I know how hard she has been pushing us in the leadership to ensure that this Bill gets to this particular stage."
}