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"speaker_name": "Mr. Karaba",
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"legal_name": "Daniel Dickson Karaba",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to second this Motion that addresses issues relating to the girl-child. This Motion has come at a time when the Government has put a lot of efforts to fund free primary education with the hope that, there will be equity in the access of education by both boys and girls in this Republic. But going by what we have seen in the country-side, it has not been possible to maintain that parity. That has been so because of problems that have been cited by my colleague, Prof. Mango. She has been a professor for a long time. I have also been a teacher for a while. Therefore, whatever we say here should be taken as coming from people with a lot of experience. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the girl-child in this country has been neglected and, more so, in our system of education. We have done many experiments to make sure that the girl- child is brought on board so that she can get the experience and the intellect to become a total woman. But, from the initial stages, maybe, from the nursery school level, the Government and even the local county councils do not take the feelings of the girl-child seriously. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, children in nursery schools are neglected. Girls in nursery schools use the same toilet facilities with the boys. At the very initial stages, the small girls are laughed at when they misuse those toilets. I would, therefore, urge the Government to make sure that, even at that early age, toilet facilities for young boys and girls are separated. That way, girls will be handled with care. Young nursery school girls should be assisted to use those toilet facilities by their teachers, but with the guidance of the Ministry of Education. Let us not leave those young girls to the whims of county council teachers, who might not have been properly trained. Let us train teachers on new methods to assist girls to be self-reliant. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, primary schools are even worse. Toilet facilities for girls are very close to those of the boys. We have heard a lot of complaints coming from parents. At times, those girls even fear going to the toilets. The worst of it comes when they attain puberty stage. They need to be told exactly what happens. In most of the schools that we have visited as the Departmental Committee on Education, Research and Technology, we have found out that girls even prefer going to the bushes instead of using toilet facilities provided by the schools. That is not their fault. It is because they require a lot of privacy in their mode of life and even education. Not many people get to know about that because most of those institutions are run and managed by men. Let us put a lot of effort and provide more female instructors in pre-primary, primary and post-primary levels, particularly for girls. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have noted that in many places, girls are forced to perform domestic chores for longer hours. They are forced to go and fetch water when younger men are just enjoying themselves. In the absence of their mothers, the girls play the role of their mothers, even as early as the age of seven years. Boys who are even 15 years or 16 years would not help those girls to perform some of those chores because of the attitude that they have developed. They leave everything else in the home to be done by the girls. The girls, therefore, do not have time to revise and think about what they have learnt in schools. The end result is that girls will not find anything interesting in schools. Eventually, they exit very early from schools and go to get married because the going got very tough. We have heard of very many cases of forced marriages, 898 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 25, 2007 trafficking of girls and girls running away from their homes to get married to young men. All that has been cited. We have cases where the lives of girls have been stigmatised by fellow male children in schools. Even when girls have problems in schools, boys laugh at them. When there are opportunities to go places, the girls are always considered last. There are also cases of child labour, particularly in Coast Province. So, a lot has been said and talked about the girl-child. As soon as the girls get to the age of 14 years to around 15 years, they imagine that they are already mature. The Government should be prevailed upon to come in and prevent cases of child labour. Unless the Government steps in, we will have untold problems. Those girls will never mature even to the level of getting into high school. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you check the enrolment rate of girls in schools in Kenya, their numbers are lower compared to those of the boys. In North Eastern Province, for example, the situation is pathetic. In the last three or four years, out of the 100 candidates who were ranked top 100 in North Eastern Province after having sat for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), only ten were girls! The rest were boys. Nyanza Province also followed suit. From the years 2003, 2004 and 2006, the number of girls who excelled never numbered 20 out of the 100 best students every year. That tells you that it is a dream for those girls to get to the university after Form IV! If that is the case, therefore, we will be having very few students qualifying to join universities, colleges and overseas universities. That, therefore, indicates that there is a problem. The problem should not be left to those people who might not have ways and means of overcoming it. Let the Government solve that problem once and for all. The moment we leave that problem pending, our girls will suffer. There is a saying: \"If you educate a girl, you educate a nation.\" That is true. The moment you have an educated girl, she will eventually get married and continue supporting her children. The multiplier effect in educating girls is more effective than that of boys. Therefore, I urge the Mover of this Motion to publish a Bill that will compel the Government to come up with measures that will improve the lives of the girl-child. That will make this country get a brighter future in terms of development. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have been talking about the evolution of industries and the development of agriculture by the year, 2020. We cannot achieve that without considering the plight of the girl-child. Girls are the majority in our population. If we do not consider them, there will be a missing link there. More than half of the population of this country constitutes women. When we are talking about development, we are thinking about how boys will take over at a certain time. That means we do not know what will happen to the greater proportion of girls. That means we will, therefore, downgrade the population of girls to useless beings unless the Government acts. We should come up with an affirmative action for girls. That is what we are addressing now. Let there be schools modelled for girls. We have to encourage the education of girls more than we have done before. Let us build schools specifically for the girls in every district, so that those girls who go to those schools are taught and prepared to pass examinations and do better than the boys. Let us not even have the girls' schools ranked against the boys' schools, but rather amongst themselves. That should be done both in secondary schools and at the universities. At the university level, we should have professional courses which are akin to the girl-child. What we have in the universities at the moment are the courses which were started in the 1950s. They have not been changed to suit the girl-child. We have courses like engineering and surveying which are very difficult for the girl- child. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to second."
}