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{
    "id": 1472595,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1472595/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 291,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kabondo Kasipul, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Eve Obara",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. This is not a laughing matter. We need to say it as it is. The question that we need to ask ourselves is this: Is CBC facing challenges? I say yes, a big one. Actually, it looks like we made a false start. Most of the schools – I am talking about my constituency – are ill-prepared in terms of infrastructure. We do not have enough classrooms, laboratories, and libraries for these JSS schools. The NG-CDF has tried to build classrooms but they are not enough. The Ministry has also done some work. Again, as I said, not enough has been done. It is not realistically possible for the Ministry or the NG-CDF to build laboratories in all these JSS schools. That is the reality. The elephant in the room is the human resource. A teacher is ill-equipped. An arts teacher is forced to teach sciences. They are, for example, assigned to teach biology and chemistry which were not their subjects at the university. They are forced to read in the night and prepare for science subjects, come back and disseminate the same to the students. Do you call that learning? No! Re-tooling has also not been done. For teachers, as I have said, they are ill-prepared. I can tell you for free that they are a frustrated lot in the JSS classrooms. The transition to Grade 9 is another problem. We have three months to think through how these students are going to transit. Is it possible to build new classrooms for them within the time that is left? I do not think so. Is there enough money to give to the NG-CDF to build the classrooms? I am not sure. Maybe that can be answered by the Chairman. Let us be realistic. What is the possibility of Grade 9 being domiciled in secondary schools? The previous challenge of age that we had is no longer an issue because the last cohort of 8-4-4 is going to exit this year. Therefore, all the students who will be in secondary school will be under the CBC programme. Let us think outside the box. If at all we agree that Grade 9 go to Form One, there will be an extra classroom because there will be no form ones. So, it will be at no expense. Will this be possible? Yes, I think it will be. We will have laboratories and subject teachers. That will not be a problem. The matter of libraries will also be sorted. Do we need to push through what we know may not be humanly possible to do within the months that we have? Let us think outside the box. We are the ones who made the policy. It is not cast in stone. We can review it and see how best our children can benefit from education. Let us not waste the future generation of this country. Thank you."
}