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{
    "id": 218243,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/218243/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 175,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Shaaban",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Local Government",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 262,
        "legal_name": "Isaack Shaban",
        "slug": "isaack-shaaban"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to support this Motion. The problem facing education in northern Kenya is not as the hon. Assistant Minister for education has said; that the leaders are to blame. It has been caused by historical injustice in the education sector by various successive Governments, and even the colonial government. If you look at the set up of national schools, you will see that they are concentrated only in a few areas. There is none in North Eastern Province and northern Kenya. If that is not an injustice, what is it? The entire pastoral region does not have a single national school. That is a historical injustice perfected by the successive regimes that came into power after Kenya attained its Independence. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for example, if you look at the enrolment rate in primary schools in North Eastern Province, it is less than 22 per cent of the number of children. For secondary education, it is less than 7 per cent. One of the reasons is that primary and secondary schools are far apart. There is a divisional headquarters which did not have a primary school, until recently. How will those children go to school? They cannot go to school if the institutions are not there. That is why we are saying that the Government should set aside special funds to enable marginal areas to catch up with the rest of the country. We have said that many times. I want the June 13, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1759 Minister to hear that. The setting aside of Kshs200,000 for bursary education in each district is not a lot of money. We need a marshall plan and sufficient funds to establish primary schools in every area. In fact, some primary schools are more than 50 kilometres or even 100 kilometres apart. We want schools to be established so that we can have enough infrastructure in terms of equipment and classrooms. That way, we can catch up with the rest of the country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you look at most of our secondary schools, they have no equipment. That is why we told the Ministry of Education to upgrade two schools in each district or constituency. That way, we can have the right facilities and compete with the rest of the country nationally. With regard to universities, we should now have a full-fledged university in northern Kenya that is biased to matters pertaining to veterinary medicine. That is where the bulk of livestock is in this country. We should have universities that specialise in livestock production in those areas. That way, students could do practicals and research in those areas, and not in Nairobi. That is why Kenya Meat Commission is based in Nairobi, when it is supposed to be in North Eastern Province or Turkana District. That is where the raw materials are. We need to prioritise the needs for each region. We need to have universities in Eastern, Coast and North Eastern provinces. That should have been done yesterday and not today. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}