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{
    "id": 144494,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/144494/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 387,
    "type": "other",
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    "content": "The Government, through the Ministry, is facing many challenges. It is facing many challenges which are making our schools do poorly as opposed to private schools. Hon. Members here refer to those schools as academies. Of course, there are some private schools which do very poorly and our people take their children to the poor performing private schools. Our schools lack infrastructure due to the inadequate resources. You will find that a school does not have a laboratory building. It is true. We cannot deny the facts we have on the ground. However, when they have a laboratory, the equipment they have is not up to the right standards of a science laboratory. Some classrooms have too many students. In a small room, you will find over 60 students. The environment is not very conducive for learning. We do not have enough schools in the rural areas. The urban areas may have enough schools. However, if you go to the Arid and Semi Arid Lands (ASAL), you will find that the schools are much far apart and they have few students. They also do not have infrastructure. We have many day schools in the urban centers but we do not have enough of them in the rural areas. Of course, with the poverty, parents do not take their children to school. Many children do not attend schools. The few that we have in the rural areas have shortage of teachers and facilities. In this House, we have always talked about shortage of teachers. Hon. Members have always been concerned about shortage of teachers. We have always responded to Questions with regard to shortage of teachers, saying that the Ministry cannot afford to have enough teachers because of the resources we are given by the Government. It is this House that approves it. If what is in this Motion could go through and the Government goes by it, it would be wonderful. We know that over 10 years ago, we had an employment freeze in the public sector. That affected the Ministry of Education. We cannot employ teachers apart from replacing those who retire, die and resign from our service. We cannot also employ quality assurance personnel and other personnel who help in the Ministry of Education because of that freeze which came into effect over 10 years ago. It is affecting us. Therefore, when you compare this situation with the private schools, you will see that those people have their money, they can employ as they wish, they can buy facilities as they wish and, put up infrastructure as they wish because they have the money. We have to use the limited resources that are availed to us. That is why, as a Ministry, we are supporting this Motion because it would make the Ministry improve its performance. We know that the general population of this country is poor. Most parents are poor and they cannot afford the necessities for their children to go to school. This is also at the nutritional level. A poorly nourished child will not perform well in school and cannot perform well in examinations. That is the reality in this country. We have the school feeding programme in a few schools. The performance in the schools which have this programme is better than those without. All this is due to poverty. Most parents cannot afford fees charged in boarding schools. They are also unable to buy additional books required in schools. If you cannot afford these things for your child, obviously, he or she will not perform well. Of course, as hon. Members have said, the parents who can afford will take their children to high-cost or private schools which have got everything."
}