HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 229103,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/229103/?format=api",
"text_counter": 163,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Karaba",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 232,
"legal_name": "Daniel Dickson Karaba",
"slug": "daniel-karaba"
},
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Motion. I support the Speech by His Excellency the President. Indeed, it was a keynote address. It had very important attributes that many people would support. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as the Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Education, Research and Technology, I will concentrate more on the education aspect. Without sound education policies, we are headed nowhere. It is only through a sound education system that a country like Kenya can forge ahead, even when we talk about Vision 2030 in terms of economic development. We have seen a lot, particulary in South East Asia, where education has been supported by both public and private sectors, thus resulting in progress in those areas. As a result of that development in education, we have seen a lot of economic development in the same countries. I attest that, unless our education system is sound, we will not reach far. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, His Excellency the President sounded as if he is aware of that. It is true that we have had an increase in the enrolment of students in secondary schools. His Excellency the President told us that there was an increase of 150,000 students in secondary schools. He also said that there was an increase of 1,500,000 students in primary schools. I would have expected that increase to be related to the recruitment of more teachers. That was not talked about. I thought he would comment about the recruitment of teachers. At the end of the Speech, nothing was said in that regard. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you go by what we call curriculum based establishment - or the teacher-student ratio - you will realise that we have a shortage of 3,750 teachers in secondary schools. As a result of increased enrolment of students in primary schools, we have a shortage of 37,500 teachers. That totals to 41,250 teachers in both primary and secondary schools. The Government has not said much about how it will tackle that shortage. If that continues, it means we are doomed. The quality of education will go down. The President stated in his Speech that we should continue putting up many day schools, so that we can make education accessible. We will not have teachers to teach in those day schools. That, therefore, defeats the purpose of the Free Primary Education Programme (FPEP). Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am saddened because we really do not have proper planning in the education sector. We are not thinking about the overall development of the education sector. It means that we are not even thinking about our future as a nation. If more students enrol in our schools, we must also recruit and post more teachers to those schools. That has happened in Tanzania. The Government of Tanzania recruited more teachers as the enrolment of students increased. In Kenya, we, sometimes, have very unbalanced recruitment and training. 228 PARLIAENTARY DEBATES March 28, 2007 Sometimes we over-train. Sometimes we under-train. That is a total mess. I, therefore, recommend that we declare the shortage of teachers a crisis. If we do not provide 41,250 teachers tomorrow, we will have a very serious shortage. Many Questions have been asked on the Floor of this House by hon. Members with regard to the shortage of teachers in their constituencies. The Minister always answers that he will recruit more teachers, but nothing happens. His Excellency the President also did not say anything about the recruitment of teachers. Whom are we going to turn to, to address the issue of quality education? We are defeated and we do not know what to do next. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when Form IV students sit for their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams, many of them pass and wait to join our public universities. But only those with grade \"A\" and \"A\"- are admitted. The rest of the students are a frustrated lot. Teachers and parents are also frustrated because those students cannot join our public universities. What kind of an education system are we having in our country? I would have expected universities to be expanded, so that more students are admitted. The same students will, in future, provide labour for industrial development. That is something that we are missing. The Government should address that issue very urgently. If that is not done, we might be sitting on a time bomb. When that time bomb explodes, it will injure even the innocent people. Our universities, few as they are, do not have inter-university programmes that are found in other countries. Our universities specialise in some areas and ignore others. There is very little correlation between what happens in one university to another. We cannot even transfer students from one university and another. We cannot have student exchange programmes with our neighbouring countries. We need to improve our education. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, His Excellency the President also stressed the point on about Information and Communication Technology (ICT). I brought a Motion to this House about making ICT teaching compulsory in our secondary schools. It was passed, but unfortunately, there are no teachers to teach this subject. There is even no electricity connected to schools. So, why do we just say that things will happen and they are never seen to happen? We just talk! We need to come up with implementation plans, given the fact that our country is developing. We have seen a lot of development taking place in the education sector. I salute the Minister for Education for doing a commendable job. The same should even be extended to schools, so that schools afford ICT education. Lack of electricity should not be an excuse for schools not to offer ICT education. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other thing which was contained in the Presidential Speech was bursary. We need to think about students from the disadvantaged background by increasing the bursary kitty. We should not only stick to Kshs800 million even when the need increases. When the need increases, the bursary kitty should also increase. Right now, we have only received Kshs400 million. We need the Kshs800 million, so that those needy students who have failed to join either secondary schools or universities get bursaries. We have cases where students under the parallel degree programme do not access bursaries, while those in private universities do so. What is the difference between a student under the parallel degree programme and one in a private university? Why should a student in a private university get a bursary while a student under the parallel programme does not? We need to come up with a policy where students under the parallel programme benefit from the bursaries. This is because it is not their fault that they have to join the parallel degree programmes. It is only because the subject combination that they would have preferred to do in those public universities was not available. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to support."
}