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"id": 207358,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/207358/?format=api",
"text_counter": 151,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Mwiria",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Education",
"speaker": {
"id": 190,
"legal_name": "Valerian Kilemi Mwiria",
"slug": "kilemi-mwiria"
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak in support of this very noble idea. This is basically in support of what, we in the Ministry, have been saying in the last four years; that we see great value in early childhood education for development of the child and the nation. We are interested and very keen to support programmes for early childhood education for a number of reasons. Some of these reasons relate to the overall development of the child that a number of hon. August 22, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3349 Members have spoken about. Frankly, the environmental experiences at these early stages of the child are very key in determining how they grow to be human beings. Secondly, this is the fastest period of growth and development in all aspects of the human being. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the development of the brain is most rapid at this stage. We have also been told that by the second year of life, 70 per cent of the person is already developed. So, basically when you are two years old, you are 70 per cent of an adult human being. By six years, 90 per cent of the adult weight and size are determined. So, this is a very critical time in terms of the overall development of the brain, the physical development of the person and in terms of the fact that a lot of environmental influences at this stage influence the way you grow. There is also a time that one needs to take advantage of the many windows of opportunity in terms of the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will influence what one will do in life by way of career and other developments. It is also the case that, at this stage, the brain is most malleable and impressionable. If you want a young person to pick anything that would be of value to them, this is the time at which they should begin to be socialized to those kinds of resources so that they take advantage of that as they grow. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is also easy to influence young people at this stage, in terms of the many values we would like to see as a nation; for example, being national in outlook and positive in all the values that we consider useful like morality and unity. They should also be positive in terms of confidence and being able to accommodate others. These kinds of values would best be developed at this stage when one is more or less innocent and not contaminated by terrible ideas from politicians and other individuals that are self-seeking. So, this is a good time that you can determine how one grows up. It is also a time to ensure the proper physical growth. So, it is really very important to invest at this stage. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are other reasons apart from the focus on the individual child. The other reasons why the Government, through the Ministry of Education, supports early childhood education. First, as hon. Members have said, you promote access. We know that if you had the advantage of experiencing early childhood education, you are better prepared to take advantage of other opportunities in primary education, not only because you get better prepared but because there are many schools that will admit you if you had early childhood education. Early childhood education promotes quality education. There are basics that you pick at that stage. Those basics will support the overall education development of the person. It is a foundation stage that many hon. Members have alluded to. It is a good time for early identification in terms of what we consider to be the unique talents of the child. If you want to begin to understand the child in terms of what the child is likely to be and the opportunities that he could exploit career-wise, this is a good time to begin to make that early identification. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with regard to those children that may have certain shortcomings or physical disabilities, it is a good time to identify the problem and begin to address it. Early childhood education would also promote productivity in the long-run. You will begin to impart relevant skills to the child in terms of the fact that you leave time for other responsibilities for parents, like Ms. Mbarire said. It gives the mothers an opportunity to focus on other things of productivity instead of just spending time to take care of the child. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in this regard, there is also the aspect of gender equity in that mothers have the opportunity, not only to do other things, but also to even support their own educational careers. They do not have to be bogged down by just taking care of their children. A lot of their responsibilities make it very difficult for our women to take advantage of opportunities that are available. If we create a window for them not to have to always take care of children, they can also take advantage of the educational opportunities that are available now at evening and during 3350 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES August 22, 2007 weekends. They can enrol themselves to pursue parallel degree programmes in our universities. It is also mainly for young girls that if you prepare them early in terms of gender equity, they are likely to take advantage the same way as the boys. This is because they would have had earlier exposure with regard to educational opportunities. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this investment also leads to some kind of cost savings on the part of the Government, family and individual investors. If we spend in the foundation years then we need to spend much less than we would have spent at the primary and secondary school levels because much of the basics already would have been imparted at that stage. So, it is a saving to the Government in that we have to invest much less in books and teachers because the children are already prepared to appreciate certain key concepts in education by the time they get to primary school. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, poverty reduction is another of the consequences of this investment in that, if you have been to early childhood education as Members have told us, you are likely to have better success in life. It is those that go to early childhood centres that go to the best primary schools. Therefore, they take advantage of the best secondary school opportunities. As hon. Kajwang said, the majority of those who are pursuing the professional degree courses in our universities happen to have had this earlier advantage. So, in terms of promoting that equity that we talk about, it is important that we subject as many Kenyan children as possible to early childhood education because that determines their success in life. We do not want to limit it to only those that are privileged; that can afford it, which has been the case. So, again, being interested in solving the problem of inequality or who proceeds in terms of social backgrounds, other disadvantages like physical disabilities, region of the country that a child comes from and religion, all these disadvantages would be pretty well addressed in terms of equating all of us, if we give our children an equal chance to benefit from early childhood education. Of course, this would in the long-run also translate into employment opportunities for those that take advantage of it. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I said, the Government has taken this matter very seriously. Issues of early childhood are very well highlighted in Sessional Paper No.10 on Policy Framework for Education and Training. They are also highlighted in Sessional Paper No.1 of 2005. We do indicate why we value it as well as the ways to go around it to ensure that is implemented. To translate this theory into practice, we have again in the Kenya Education Sector Support Programme 2005-2010 explained the stages that we need to follow to be able to implement those lofty goals that are suggested in Sessional Paper No.1 of 2005. Beyond that, we have developed a policy on early childhood education and it is this policy that is summarised in this document entitled \"National Early Childhood Development Policy Framework.\" This is because we realise that it is not enough to just say that we believe in it if we do not chart a way forward from the point of view of what is it that we would like to do or we intend to do it and by what period of time. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in addition, we also have guidelines and standards to ensure that whatever is offered by way of early childhood education, we standardise across all the centres. In this regard, we also have a policy document on that entitled \"Early Childhood Development Survey Standard Guidelines for Kenya\" to ensure that, again, we are not talking different things in different parts of the country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, our policy is comprehensive. However, we would like to do much more, but resources are limited and if we have not given as much attention as we would like---"
}