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"id": 185168,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/185168/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Prof. Ongeri",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Education",
"speaker": {
"id": 124,
"legal_name": "Samson Kegeo Ongeri",
"slug": "samson-ongeri"
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"content": "There are issues that have been raised by hon. Members. Whereas I may not be able to touch all of them, some of them were covered in my budget presentation. Others will be covered as we subsequently debate many other issues in this House. Hon. Bifwoli who has been here - he was the last speaker - talked about teachers not signing performance contracts. He has been a teacher for 30 years. We are simply saying that performance contracting is a measure of an individual to deliver the tasks that have been set before him or her. We are not asking them to sign any written 2604 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 8, 2008 document. We are just simply saying that the scheme of work, where they are the leaders in the performance contracting world, should be improved on. They should be able to tell us how best they can deliver the curriculum, given the odd circumstances they operate in. After all, they have been operating successfully. Performance contracting or doing the schemes of work effectively will help them, in fact, to boost their own personal knowledge and satisfaction because teaching has certain levels of satisfaction. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the question of Education for All (EFA) as raised by Prof. Kamar, we had that in mind. Hon. Ethuro raised that question earlier. We are, as a Ministry, concerned about the marginalised areas and pockets of poverty in our urban centres. We are very much concerned about those areas. We also know that when we started free primary education, enrolment figures rose from 5.8 million to 8.2 million. We are clear that there are about 1.5 million children who are out there in some of those pockets of poverty that you have ably brought to our attention. One of the ways we can address that imbalance is actually for local Members of Parliament to work as stakeholders with the Ministry of Education to bring out those issues clearly to our attention, so that we can address them. We have local officers on the ground. They have a detail and a brief that one of the areas that they must look at is to re-dress the imbalance that has existed in our educational system vis-a-vis in terms of opportunities and equality. After all, Vision 2030 states very clearly that apart from access to education, we must also promote equality and equity. Those are the three fundamental features in our ministerial policy. If you remember, Sessional Paper No.1 of 2005, in fact, captured most of the issues that you have raised on the Floor of the House. We are, right now, in the middle of a summative review of the Kenya Sub-sector Support Programme (KESSEP) which will now end in 2012. The minute we have that review in place, we will get sufficient information on the 23 investment projects and programmes we have in the Ministry of Education under the Kenya Sub-sector Support Programme, which is supported both by the Government of Kenya and our partners. We should then be able to get informed decisions on how to move forward once that summative review process has been completed. I want to assure the nomadic groups that, indeed, we have crafted a policy on the issue of Nomadic Education Commission (NEC). It is on our tables and soon, we shall be enunciating a clear policy of the shape and form it will take to create the NEC in order to address the issues affecting nomadic people and the people residing in the ASAL areas. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I just wanted to allay the fears with regard to the School Feeding Programme (SFP). A lot of hon. Members have talked about the SFP. Yes, we have the SFP and it was catering for 1.2 million Kenyan children, but unfortunately, because of the rising food prices and other factors, this is going to affect us grossly. We will only cater for 750,000 children. However, we have provided an additional Kshs400 million to mitigate against the shortfall that is arising from the rising food prices. Recently, the Government of Japan gave us an additional"
}