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"speaker_name": "Mrs. Mugo",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Public Health and Sanitation",
"speaker": {
"id": 85,
"legal_name": "Beth Wambui Mugo",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for also recognising that this country is made of two equal members of the population. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise to support the Motion on the Floor and to congratulate the Minister for Education together with his able team for the manner in which they have conducted education in our country sometimes under very difficult circumstances. The education sector has continued to be the flagship of this country and administration in the Government. I say so because we have seen in the last two years, this country being able to give free primary education and partial free secondary education which is unique even in our region. There are not many other countries who have been able to do that. Whereas there are areas which still need to be addressed, I think we should appreciate what the Government and the Ministry of Education have been able to do. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I particularly want to pay tribute to the way they handled the crisis at the beginning of the year where children had to go to schools and the teachers had to work in hardship areas. Somehow, they were able to run schools in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. I personally visited such schools especially in Jamhuri Showground and Naivasha IDP Camp and I saw such schools being operated there. It was not easy. I want to pay tribute also to the teachers because they were under a lot of pressure and sometimes worked in dangerous situations. Mr. Speaker, Sir, however, having said that, I would also like to appeal to the Minister for Education that when it comes to equity especially on the gender area, we hoped that by now, with regard to bursaries, the girls were to have a 5 per cent over the boys. To be able to have that, it means an allocation of 55 per cent of the budget which we know in many constituencies, the girls do not even get 50 per cent or 40 per cent of what is given at the constituency level. That is why we have proposed to the Minister, if we could have 5 per cent of all bursaries left at the Ministry of Education to be administered at the gender desk which is already established. I want to congratulate the Minister, the Permanent Secretary and the team for establishing the Gender Desk. That way, those girls that get into difficulties because of their gender will get equity and have education. I hope that, that will be implemented soon. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would also like to say something in relation to education and health. We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation on expanding of information on health to the education sector. What I am asking the Minister for Education is to look into whether we could re-introduce hygiene subjects in the curriculum. When we were all growing up, we were taught hygiene. That you must wash your hands after you use the toilet, open the windows when you wake up early, use the latrine--- In fact, there used to be very heavy fines for homesteads which had no toilets. That is something that my Ministry is embarking on. Next week, that is on 15th October, is the International Hand Washing Day. It is a United Nations (UN) day. It will be celebrated all over the world. Those are the messages that we would like to work together with the Ministry of Education by introducing hygiene. Children should be taught basic personal hygiene. If we can do that and keep our environment clean, we could reduce diseases by up to 70 per cent in our country. What kills many of our children are diseases like diarrhoea that are caused by poor hygienic conditions. 2504 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 7, 2008 So, that is something that we are very keen to work with the Ministry of Education and include it in our syllabus. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with regard to high education, more women should be involved in the administration of education. Whereas we see many women in the lower level, we still do not have enough and yet, they act as role models to young girls. Schools in my constituency have a problem of paying electricity bills. Power has been disconnected in many schools now. We know that power is important in the laboratories and other areas. We thank the President for his directive that taxes levied on the energy sector should be reviewed. But I also request the Ministry to look into ways of cushioning or adding a lit bit more support in the running of the schools, so that power is not disconnected. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there is a big shortage of teachers in Dagoretti. I am always told that when teachers are posted there, many of them do not want to stay there. They want to stay in Eastlands. I want to request the Minister that next time he employs teachers, he should make sure that they come from Dagoretti. They apply in big numbers. That way, they can remain there. There are some schools that have a shortage of as many as six teachers. When you compare the situation in Dagoretti and Eastlands, it is very worrying! There is no shortage of teachers in Eastlands. I know that there is a balancing exercise that was conducted. I was in that Ministry. But it did not work in some areas. So, we request that there is a review of the staffing of teachers. I also request for more teachers in Dagoretti, so that we can have equity as far as teachers' distribution is concerned. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we have food supplies to schools in slum areas. I know that some of the schools are not getting enough supply. So, I request the Ministry to also consider schools especially in the slum areas. They are facing very hard times, especially after the problems that we experienced at the beginning of the year. We have many households that do not have enough food to give to their children. When those children go to school, they are not able to follow the teaching. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}