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"id": 185389,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/185389/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Wamalwa",
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"speaker": {
"id": 148,
"legal_name": "Eugene Ludovic Wamalwa",
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"content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support the Motion. May I start by congratulating the Government for giving the highest priority to education by allocating the lion share of our national Budget to it. I would also like to congratulate the Government for tasking the finest of the fine in Kenya in terms of the men and women who oversee that very crucial Ministry, starting with the very able Minister, Prof. Ongeri, the Mover of this Motion, and the man who seconded this Motion, Prof. Saitoti, who was the former Minister. The Assistant Minister is another very able Prof. Olweny. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry is Prof. Karega Mutahi. The Secretary of Education is Prof. Godia. All those are very able Kenyans. By giving the best of the best, it also shows the priority and importance the Government attaches to education. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I was very pleased to hear about the plans for the Early Childhood Development (ECD). It is a matter that came up even before we went on recess. Many of us have been very concerned at what the Government ascribes to the meaning of \"basic education\". When we talk of free primary and secondary education, we are of the view that free primary education should start with ECD. We have been fighting to see that those very committed ECD teachers, many of whom are not paid by the Government, are actually given the due recognition and are put on the payroll like the other teachers. That is because they play a very important role. I think they handle the child at the most delicate level; when the child leaves the home to come to school, the first person to receive that child at a very tender age, is that ECD teacher. I was very pleased to know that funds have been set aside and there are plans to have that very important part of our educational system integrated by 2010. I was very pleased to hear that. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I would also like to support what hon. Affey has said. I think they are the people who do the actual work to deliver in this very crucial area. They are the teachers. We have had the free primary education being celebrated as one of the success stories of the 21st Century. We have the free secondary education under way. The people who actually bear the brunt of the side effects as anything good--- There are side effects that come with this free primary and secondary education. We have been to schools in our constituencies where over- crowding is a problem. We have totally crowded classrooms and teachers have to deal with very, very difficult problems because of the limited physical facilities. You find that they are the ones bearing the brunt of what is happening in our schools. Yet, as we speak today, the teacher is one of the least paid servant of this Government. I am a son of a former school teacher. My mother, Mary Naliaka Wamalwa, was an October 7, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2509 untrained primary school teacher and she was earning very little money. In fact, at the time, as an untrained teacher, I can remember it was very difficult for her to make ends meet as a mother. She had to go for training at Mosoriot Teachers Training College. After that, I think her payslip improved slightly. But still, when you look at the salary of a primary school teacher, you will be shocked. I think as we try to improve education, we must look into the welfare of teachers. We now have battle grounds with teachers threatening to go on strike. We are of the view that everything should be done to ensure that teachers are comfortable to enable them deliver, because all expectations are on them. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I was very pleased to also hear that funds have been allocated for Kibabii Teachers Training College in Bungoma. It is one of the oldest riddles in Bungoma. We have heard of it for decades before this college was eventually started after the NARC Government came to power. I was very pleased to hear today that, indeed, funds have been allocated towards the construction of this college. I am sure that the people out there are very pleased to know that eventually, Kibabii Teachers Training College is getting some money and something is going to be done to have the college going. We had post-election violence, and there were several theatres of this conflict. Trans Nzoia District was one of them. There are schools that were affected by post-election violence and physical facilities were strained because of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). We know that the Ministry has been trying to do a lot to help such schools, but we still expected more emphasis to be put towards addressing problems facing schools that were affected by the post-election violence, including schools that were not affected but hosted IDPs, leading to their physical facilities getting strained and affected. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we are also aware that as a result of the post-election violence, many farmers were not able to farm. We know that as many children go to school now, they have no food. They leave their homes hungry. We have seen photographs of what is happening in the Eastern Province. We would have expected some emphasis to be put towards the School Feeding Programme (SFP) to address the problem of children from poor homesteads who hardly have anything to eat. However good a teacher is, if a child leaves a home hungry and goes back home hungry, that child will not be able to hear anything that the teacher says. There has to be focus and direction on the issue of SFP to enable children get some food and be able to learn. There is also the problem of shortage of teachers in areas which were affected by violence. During the recess, I toured 11 locations in my constituency, in Trans Nzoia West District. I was surprised to learn that one school called Sikinwa Primary School, with a population of 1,200 pupils, had only four teachers. So, the four teachers could only occupy four classrooms at a time and pupils in the other classrooms had to bask outside. Some would go home without being taught. This is a crisis which needs to be addressed urgently, so that the education standards in the country are not affected. This is happening particularly in Trans-Nzoia and Mt. Elgon districts, and other districts like Uasin Gishu, which were affected by the post-election violence. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we know that we need to cater for and prepare in advance because of the upsurge in enrolment in primary schools. As the Minister has indicated, five to ten years to come, where will these children go? We need to build new secondary schools. We need to prepare to absorb the many children who have enroled as a result of the Free Primary Education Programme (FPEP). I was very pleased to learn that, indeed, the Ministry is concerned, and we are taking well the advice of the Minister that in allocating CDF funds towards construction of new secondary schools, we should do so in consultation with the education officers. I was very surprised to learn that in my constituency, there are locations that have no secondary schools. After going round the locations and comparing notes with the District Education Officer, our proposals 2510 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 7, 2008 of new secondary schools to be constructed in Saboti Constituency actually fitted like hand in glove with the proposals that the Education Office already has. They have identified the needs of certain locations where secondary schools should be built. Indeed, we need to have more consultations and partnership in this area, so that we can build more secondary schools in preparation to absorb the many children who have benefited from the FPEP. Finally, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we have the problem of students attaining the age of 18 without getting ID cards in secondary schools. We need the Ministry to address this problem and make it possible for students to be issued with ID cards as they leave Form Four. It is very important to do so. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}