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{
    "id": 223511,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/223511/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 263,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dr. Mwiria",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Education",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 190,
        "legal_name": "Valerian Kilemi Mwiria",
        "slug": "kilemi-mwiria"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. Basically, the reason for calling a meeting of stakeholders in the next two weeks is for us to chart a way forward, and one way of consulting stakeholders is through discussions in Parliament. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as we expand that, we need to worry about content, like the hon. Members have said. If it is just academic, then there are problems. This is because, like it has already been said, we need people with practical skills to contribute. There are many opportunities out there for those with vocational and technical education skills. Therefore, we need to think about a content that will be relevant and how well we can get resources and support other Ministries that are supportive of education in general, including the Ministry of Science and Technology, because that is where technical and vocational institutions are based. In terms of supporting other possible options, yes, it is true that much of this expansion will be possible through day schools. It is not enough to just build day schools if parents and the May 2, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1057 students in those schools do not realise that they can be as competitive as those who go to other schools. It is up to us to begin to think very, very seriously how we can strengthen day schools by way of providing facilities such as science laboratories, libraries, computer laboratories and ensure that they have got enough teachers to make them competitive. It is one thing to have thousands of children in day schools, but quite another and very frustrating if a lot of them will not be able to join university but also competitive programs in our universities. Issues of admission to universities and programmes must form part of discussions related to how we implement this very important Motion on expanding secondary school access. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to call on hon. Members of Parliament to support better utilisation of resources in Ministries and schools. They should vote for more resources to support this initiative. They should commit themselves to the country's development as opposed to us just talking politics. If we develop this country then we will have the resources to support quality secondary school education as well as technical and vocational institutions of value. We should support affirmative action programmes simultaneously with these changes. Affirmative action should be there in terms of admission. A lot of our children are going to day schools. We must come up with a policy of ensuring that they benefit by getting university places, even if it means coming up with an affirmative action programme to ensure that we convince parents that these schools are worth going to. This is an important political issue and Members of Parliament must be prepared to pass that Motion. We should popularise day schools to parents because they are usually against them. We have more boarding schools because it is the parents who insist on having them. Our parents are so irresponsible that they want to send their children to boarding primary schools and some to boarding nursery schools. They want to get rid of their responsibilities. We have a responsibility to convince parents that it is up to them to bring up their children. It is not the responsibility of school teachers and head teachers to bring up their children. This is the only way day schools will be accepted. In terms of consensus building with regard to votes, I would like all of us to sit down and discuss this Budget when it is being proposed. I would like all of us to sit down and look through votes of various Ministries. We can then say that we will get a billion from a certain Ministry and allocate it to the Ministry of Education. Unless we borrow from various votes it will be very difficult for the Ministry of Education which is already very well funded to come up with the billions that are required. What about the CDF? I would like to propose that instead of asking that we get an additional 2 per cent or 5 per cent, this money gets voted to support free secondary education as part of the budget for the Ministry of Education. This is our biggest headache as hon. Members of Parliament. Let us think more seriously about whether or not this money will not be better used if we put it in this kind of vote. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am saying this because I would like us to look at this as our business for all of us to make it possible because it is a headache for all of us. If we want secondary school education not to go through the same criticism that we have subjected free primary education to, we need to be involved in designing the programme that will make a difference. This should be a programme whereby hon. Members have ownership of. That will also require making certain sacrifices in terms of the resources that we want to give ourselves as MPs representing constituencies. We support this very noble idea."
}