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"speaker_name": "Prof. Maathai",
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"legal_name": "Wangari Muta Maathai",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I was saying that it is possible to give free secondary education. We can cut down on many luxuries that we have. If we manage our Budget more prudently, and sacrifice some of the luxuries that we give ourselves, especially amongst the Ministers and in many other Government offices, we can do it. If we became more efficient in managing our resources, I am 100 per cent sure that we could provide free education in both primary and secondary schools. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if we found it difficult, I think it is also possible to give loans, especially to our secondary schools. I think it is a shame that so many of our children are not able to undergo secondary school education, because they cannot pay school fees. It is even more shameful that when they finish secondary school, we are not able to give them their results. That has been a subject of discussion in this House so many times. There is no reason why we cannot give loans to our secondary school students, just like we do to our university students, and demand that they repay these loans when they get employed. This is one way of making sure that our students become self-reliant, work hard and learn to take responsibility and not completely depend on their parents. So, instead of literally throwing away young people because their parents cannot pay school fees, we ought to come up with a mechanism such as loans, to make sure that our children go through secondary school and technical schools. We should give them loans which they will repay, as I said, when they get jobs. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if we did this, for example, we could then invest in teachers. So many times, in this House, we have asked for more teachers to be employed. We have so many schools in the country which have a shortage of teachers, and yet, the Government is not able to provide them. If we were not struggling to offer free primary or secondary education, and introduced a loan scheme, for example, then we would be able to invest in infrastructure in schools. As a result, we would construct good schools with science laboratories, computers and all the facilities that are needed to bring out students who are creative and innovative. They will then be able to self-employ themselves. That way, we would not have such a large number of Form Four leavers who are literally not able to employ themselves. Many of them are unemployable because they are completely unskilled. I think it is short-sighted for us to expect students to come out of secondary schools with basic information and knowledge, and work in offices. If you employ some of our youngsters and station them in offices, they do not even know which side of the telephone handset to speak to and which one to listen to. They do not know what a fax or electronic mail (E-mail) look like. Such people are completely unemployable. I think that we could invest our money in institutions that have equipment that makes these students graduate when they are employable. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have to develop a culture of self-reliance. The only way that we can do this is by training our children, even when they are going through school, that they have to be self-reliant. There is no better way of doing this than to give them an opportunity to support part of their education, by knowing that they are getting education, but they will have to repay the loan that they received. This would be a way of eliminating the culture that we have now developed in this country, where we have an army of employable youth, because there are no technical schools for them to join after undergoing secondary education. I would like to thank the NARC Government because it is now beginning to revive the technical schools, which were abandoned for many years. There is no way a person can be helpful in an office if all he or she can May 9, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1183 do is read and write. One has to have skills besides knowledge. So, getting children into technical schools is extremely important. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Motion supports a great vision for any country, especially this country which has a great potential. We have such a wonderful country that has so many resources, and people who work very hard. But quite often we waste them away, because we give them half- cooked education that does not enable them to support themselves, because it does not make them creative and innovative. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to commend the hon. Oloo-Aringo and strongly support this Motion, which I think would be a wonderful vision for this country if we were to approve and support it. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}