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{
    "id": 230532,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/230532/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 249,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Ojode",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 197,
        "legal_name": "Joshua Orwa Ojode",
        "slug": "joshua-ojode"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I thank you for allowing me to contribute to this very important Motion. A lot has been said about abolishing the current system of education and reverting to the old system. This is not the first time this House is talking about abolishing the 8-4-4 System of Education. You can recall that the last Parliament passed a Motion, calling upon the Ministry of Education to liaise with stakeholders in the education sector and ensure that we reverted to the old education system. To-date, that has not happened. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, why are we talking about abolishing the 8-4-4 education system? Whenever an eight-year old child, who is supposed to be in Standard Two, goes to school, the parent must carry his or her school bag, because it is too heavy for the child. When I was an Assistant Minister for Education we did agree that we must revert to the old system of education. Just as my colleagues have mentioned, the 8-4-4 is a system which cannot work. The 8-4-4 system was introduced in 1985 after the Americans forced us to do so. The only 4186 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES December 6, 2006 problem then was that there was no foundation by which to phase out the previous education system slowly. In 2001, I was an Assistant Minister for Education. I went to Tanzania and signed an education treaty whose import was to look into ways of harmonizing the education system within East Africa. We agreed in principle that the 8-4-4 system is bad. The 8-4-4 system was intended to gear children towards technical subjects. However, that change was not adequately prepared for because, those who were in the Government then wanted to misappropriate the money that was meant for that preparation. So, implementation of the 8-4-4 system was fast-tracked. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as Mr. Kajwang' said, if you want to study for a law degree, why should you be forced to do Kiswahili? If you want to be a doctor, why should it be a must that you must do Kiswahili? They wanted to disadvantage some people. If you force children in South Nyanza to do Kiswahili to qualify to study Medicine, you will never find a doctor in South Nyanza. It is not possible. I say so because, even the teachers for Kiswahili are not there in the first place. I will give one example. Ratanga Primary School, where I come from, has 456 children and only six teachers. Last month, one of the teachers died."
}