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{
"id": 185401,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/185401/?format=api",
"text_counter": 193,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Maj-Gen. Nkaisserry",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister, Ministry of State for Defence",
"speaker": {
"id": 192,
"legal_name": "Joseph Kasaine Ole Nkaissery",
"slug": "joseph-nkaissery"
},
"content": " Thank you very much, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this very important Vote. On the outset, I would like to commend the Minister for his very able leadership in what he is trying to do. You realise that we recently came out of a very trying period, with regard to the education system, but he handled the crisis in a very professional manner. Let me begin by condemning the education syllabus of our country. The Ministry needs to look into this issue. Overhaul of the syllabus of the current education system is an urgent issue which we must tackle. It is a major problem. The current syllabus has been there for a long time. I do not know whether there is any policy in place for improvement of the current syllabus. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, in addition to that, I would like to recommend that we do away with the examinations at the primary school-level, because it serves as a bottleneck for our children. What would you expect a 14 year old child to do when he does not make it to secondary school? That goes a long with the issue of looking afresh at the syllabus of our education system. Secondly, I would like to make the Ministry recognise teachers. It is very important that we give some kind of recognition to teachers for what they are doing. We need to look into their welfare. My colleague might have talked about the issue of salaries. These are the issues to address. We should give them facilities as well as houses and they will perform. So, it is an issue that the Ministry needs to look into. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, thirdly is the issue of over staying of head teachers in one school. It becomes routine. Once a teacher stays in a place for more than three years, the first year he or she is learning, the second year he or she is producing up to the third year. The fourth year becomes routine. We have a problem with the majority of our school head teachers. Some over-stay in a school for over ten years. It is important that a policy be put in place for the transfer of teachers. They are Kenyans and, therefore, can be moved from Nyanza Province to Mandera. If one does not want to move, then he or she should give the chance to somebody who can serve Kenya in that capacity. It is very important. It should be a policy. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the fourth issue is that of adult education. We are giving adult education a raw deal. If we want to be literate then we need to target adult education and apportion money for this. In a budget of about Kshs117 billion, what adult education has been allocated is a drop in the ocean. I think the Minister and his technocrats need to look into this October 7, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2523 because it is a very critical issue. You cannot expect the literacy levels of a country to be changed by a Standard Four drop-out. We need to look into that. The other issue which I think is very important is the criteria the Ministry uses in allocation of bursary. I come from a very poor constituency. Unfortunately, the other day the technocrats at the Ministry of Planning and National Development said that Kajiado is among the richest districts. It is not! We lost over 70 per cent of our livestock. You will realise that, that is the livelihood of our people. Therefore, when you look at the allocation of bursary funds, the issue of affirmative action is very important especially for pastoralist communities. If you want them to be at par with the rest of Kenyans, then award them university scholarships. Even on university admission, you cannot compare a child in a place called Ramu from a child from another province. I am sure most of you here do not know where Ramu is unless you look at the map of Kenya. It is very far. Look at a place called Torosei, on the Kenya-Tanzania border and which is the end of my constituency. You cannot expect a child from that place to compete at primary level with a child who schools at Nairobi Primary School. I would like to propose that we establish centres of excellence at secondary level in every constituency. I would also like to recommend to the Ministry that the building fund fees should be done away with. It is bringing a lot of problems; children are being sent home because they have not paid the building fees. I think it is important for the Ministry to look into that issue critically and make sure that it is removed entirely, because it is completely bogging down the education of children . Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, maybe this is not the mandate of this Ministry, but I think it is important that we have a university campus in every district or constituency, so that we bring up the level of education in this country. I would like to recommend that the Ministry recommends that the amount required for building schools be factored into the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF), so that it becomes the responsibility of CDF Committees to build schools in their own constituencies. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, as I said earlier, it is important that we overhaul the syllabus; it is also important that we overhaul the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) for bringing shame to our country by leaking examinations. I think the Minister should be bold enough and take the bull by the horns,and we shall support him. With those few remarks, I support."
}