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{
"id": 1340627,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1340627/?format=api",
"text_counter": 183,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Homa Bay Town, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Peter Kaluma",
"speaker": null,
"content": " I thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I support this Motion in parts and oppose it in several parts. Number one, this Motion proposes that the amount that can be allocated towards bursary be increased beyond the 35 per cent restriction on limitation that is currently under the NG-CDF Act, 2015. I agree and support that part. Let each constituency, as long as they perform national Government functions, have the free range based on their priorities to apply those funds to those functions. If the bursary component of education would require more than 35 per cent, so be it. There should be that freedom to ensure that not only is school infrastructure put in place, but that students are enabled and are in school. I also support prayer No.3, which requests this House to resolve that the Government revise the capitation per student in primary schools from the current Ksh1,420 per year to at least Ksh7,760 per year, being the minimum optimal capitation factoring the new CBC education system and the prevailing high cost of living. CBC is here, and I agree with my colleagues that there are very high-cost ramifications. Recently, we debated the CBC matter, including the kind of uniform the students at the CBC level and, more so, junior secondary, are required to wear. There is a change in facility needs. Even the infrastructure needed has increased. If we are going into this new curriculum, there should be increased capitation from Government to sustain it. That I agree with. Even as we urge for an increase, let us also, as a House, push very hard that the Government ensures that those monies are remitted to the schools in time. We have national exams, particularly the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE), coming in a few weeks. Across the nation, students have been sent back home for fees. I have seen people on Twitter and other social media platforms condemning teachers, but teachers are in a situation where they cannot manage schools. They are at pains having students in school waiting for exams being prepared without food, and as parents or people standing in as parents of those students, they do not know what to do with them. The fact of the matter is that the capitation at the level of secondary education, Hon. Members, is some Ksh22,000 and some hundreds on it. So far, the academic year is ending, but the Ministry of Education has only disbursed half that money - barely Ksh11,000. I have heard teachers, even from my place, telling me: “Hon. Kaluma, you are pushing for your students to be in school, but we are not able to keep students we cannot feed.” Let us urge the Ministry of Education to release the money. We budgeted for those monies. That money is available and so, let us stop this pretence that money is not there. I am a member of the Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Affairs and I have supervised how much money we collect on the e-platform. Last month alone, we did over Ksh199 billion on that platform. Let us have our priorities right and not just push for capitation to be increased. But as a Parliament, we should push that once those capitations are increased, money is availed to the school managers to be able to use the money. Regarding resolutions one and two, I maintain that we cannot be spending monies under the NG-CDF to resource basic education requirements. Let me emphasise that basic education is defined under the Basic Education Act, and that definition excludes secondary education going forward. Article 53(1) says that basic education shall be free and compulsory, and no money in NG-CDF can go there. The money can only go to those others for which the Government is not obligated. For basic, non-free and non-compulsory education, we need to push for money to be given directly to them by the Government. Because of those facts, I oppose and support in part. I thank you."
}