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{
"id": 185160,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/185160/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. M'Mithiaru",
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"speaker": {
"id": 72,
"legal_name": "Ntoitha M'mithiaru",
"slug": "ntoitha-mmithiaru"
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, first of all I want to commend the Ministry of Education, the Minister and his team for a job well done. I know that there are constraints, especially in finances, but they have tried. Although they have tried, its about the challenges now. Education for our youth is an investment. It is an investment that must be costly, whether we like it or not. What we are looking for in school is performance and quality. Unless we have teachers in schools to teach the children, we will not be talking of performance or quality education. I have a case in point. In my constituency, most primary schools, Standards I, II, III and IV have about 120 children each. When, sometimes, there is no teacher at all to teach them, it becomes a terrible problem, especially because of their tender age. If the children are not prepared education-wise, then we are breeding people who will not give quality service to this country. So, when we say that the Budget for education is the biggest and we should slash it--- If possible, it should even be doubled. What we are doing is investing in our children. These are the people who will take care of our industries and other services in the future. If we do not prepare them properly, then we will actually be doomed. I am saying that we cannot compromise on this, and the Ministry must ask for more money because it has to employ more teachers. Another point is the Day Secondary Schools that we have today. In my constituency, we have about 12 Day Secondary Schools, with Form I to Form IV classes, but they have only one Teachers Service Commission (TSC) paid teacher, the Principal. The rest of the teachers are employed by parents and sometimes they cannot afford them; you can see that those employed do not have the requisite knowledge to impart to our children. So, it is an issue that we cannot compromise on. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, another issue is that Igembe North is classified as an arid and semi-arid district. In some schools which are near roads, teachers are paid hardship allowance, while in others, which are far away from roads, teachers are not paid this allowance. I appeal to the Minister to have the hardship allowance paid across the board, if a district is classified as arid or semi-arid. Today, most of the children are not able to enjoy their childhood, because every evening they carry a load of books to go and study. I would like the Ministry to look into that issue and see how they can lessen that load to ensure that children are all-rounders in terms of academic work, extrar-curricular activities and also in the enjoyment of their childhood. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}