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"speaker_name": "Prof. Oniang'o",
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"legal_name": "Ruth Khasaya Oniang'o",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. The hon. Member has actually ambushed me. But I will second it. I am very happy to second this Motion. I talked to him earlier, but he told me that somebody else was seconding. But I will second it. I want to really support this Motion. As I said, I have come back from western Kenya. We had a first Child Day in western Kenya. There were some 1,000 little kids. We had that event because I value that age of children. I describe it as the foundation of a human being. It is like when you are building a house like this one. If you do not have a good foundation, it would not stand. It will not stand the test of time. So, whenever I visit a primary school, the first question I ask is: \"Where is the pre-school unit?\" I go there. I have managed to get many school heads to give the best classroom in the school to those little kids. I tell them: \"You cannot expect good brains--- You cannot expect people to be presidents, lawyers and engineers to succeed if we do not take care of the foundation!\" Another favourite saying of mine is: \"Who we are today is informed by what we were before\". So that age group is very important to me. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Mr. Angwenyi has said that, in his own constituency, he found teachers who were being paid Kshs2,000 per month. He described that as slavery. Where I come, and from the schools I have gone to, many teachers do not even get a regular salary every month. They do not even get as much as Kshs1,000 per month. In fact, it is like they are baby- sitting for free. So, that is not right. Now, if we are going to support free primary education and care about all Kenyans being educated, then we have to start where it starts. We are aware that when a child is born, the parents take over. That parental nurturing is very critical. I am happy that even the men will be getting paternity leave because the child needs both parents. But soon after that, the child needs to be socialised. They start to go out. They are socialised. That is where the pre-school unit and early childhood development comes in. It is so critical. For me, it is such a critical aspect of free primary education and basic education. Yes, I know that the hugest concentration of the Kenyan population is at that level. But on the other hand, if we get that right, many of them---Problems that we have later on; crime issues, unemployment and people not well educated--- If we get that right, we shall have it a lot easier thereafter. So, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have so many pre-school educators who are actually doing a free job for the parents and the Government. We are saying that, in fact, those should be part of free primary education. With Kenyans paying more taxes--- As you are aware, August 15, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3205 Kenyans are some of the most highly taxed people in this world. We want to see where the money is going. Some of that money can go to properly remunerating pre-school teachers. We do not want to down-play what this Government and the previous Government have done in terms of bringing up the District Early Childhood Development Centres (DECECs). We are aware that those who can afford can now go during the school holidays for training and get that training over time. It used to be free. We would like to see as many teachers who handle little kids as possible get that training. So, we want to commend our Government for making sure that, that training is available. It is already institutionalised. So, what we are now asking for is to build on that one. We shall be building on that. We shall have a much better educational system just like we do elsewhere. In fact, we shall have a competitive system which anybody coming from anywhere would be happy with. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we had the little kids yesterday in the field. We had a programme for them. I am a food and nutrition scientist and we emphasize on nutrition. As you know, at that age, children are growing fast. They need a variety of nutrients. We realise that when they stay at home, some of the families may be too poor to give them a balanced diet. But through a school system, you can actually provide better nutrition for them. So, we did a programme that is under, really the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) that I started, and we are able to provide soya milk, which is full protein of plant source. We are able to encourage milk and high protein consumption because, at that age, the childs' brain is developing very fast. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, that is the best place to impart food manners, good behaviour, respect for older people, respect for teachers and God. We just had children making us happy yesterday. The many others that were there could begin to see the sense of supporting that age group. What we are saying is that the Government should look at the good examples that are already being run through NGOs and churches. They can borrow a leaf from them. There is no point of waiting until they reach their teenage when there are all kinds of delinquent problems with young people. We complain and yet we do not lay a proper foundation in the beginning. I believe, and as I said yesterday to those parents and the little kids because I saw them entertain us, you can identify talents in children and, in fact, geniuses at that level. Those children are truly the leaders of tomorrow. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to support hon. Angwenyi in this Motion and, indeed, second it. In fact, the Motion has come late, but it is never too late. With those few remarks, I beg to second."
}