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"id": 225455,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Ojode",
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"legal_name": "Joshua Orwa Ojode",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am just reading the list then I will table the document for my colleagues to see how they are doing poorly. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Butere District has a shortage of 1,111 teachers. The list is long. However, the shortages of teachers I have mentioned above are just for primary schools. I have not even spoken about the teacher shortages in secondary schools. I have the data here with me. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not have to table this document officially. However, I would want my colleagues to have copies, so that when contributing, they can know what they are talking about. The list is here. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, schools in other areas have the same problem of under-staffing. I appeal to the Government to release funds to hire and employ those who have already been trained and are waiting to be absorbed in the job market. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will give an example; parents of pupils in majority of primary schools in rural areas have decided to hire teachers and pay them from their pockets. I would want to appeal to the Assistant Minister for Education, who is here, to give certain grants to schools with under-staffing. Parents should not be paying teachers from their pockets. That is a burden to the parents! As you are aware, the economy, which is supposedly said to be improving, has not trickled down to wananchi . People do not have money and thus, cannot afford to hire teachers on their own. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is also equally important to restructure the secondary school teacher training institutions to take care of special education. We have a shortage of 56,755 teachers. As at June last year, primary schools alone had a shortage 45,317 teachers. The Government employed 5,641 in July. Therefore, there is a balance of 39,677 teachers to be employed in primary schools. 704 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 18, 2007 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker Sir, we also have non-formal schools. We need about 8,750 teachers in these schools. In secondary schools, as at June last year, there was a shortage of 10,000 teachers. The Government employed 1,671. That left a balance of 8,329 teachers. In total, the Government needs to employ 56,755 teachers. I hope the Assistant Minister is taking notes of what I am saying. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know the Assistant Minister will stand here and say that they do not have enough money. They have even tabulated what they require from the Treasury in the event that they employ all these teachers that are required. They require Mr. Kimunya to approve a paltry Kshs10,797,000,000. This is nothing to a Government whose economy has improved. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if we need to train more teachers, we need to expand the existing teacher training colleges. We need to expand colleges offering diplomas such as Kagumo Teachers Training College and Kenya Science Teachers Training College. That is the only way forward. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you will agree with me that if we need to train more teachers, that means that we have to request about three or four teacher training colleges to offer diploma courses. Only two diploma colleges will not be enough to train teachers for secondary schools. With the introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), it will require us, as a Government to have more teaching institutions. The other issue that I would like to address is the day-schools. The Government should come up with a policy to transform boarding schools into day-schools because boarding schools are expensive. The parents do not have enough money to take their children to boarding schools. Some of them ask for as much as Kshs38,000."
}