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{
"id": 238787,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/238787/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Katuku",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Water and Irrigation",
"speaker": {
"id": 281,
"legal_name": "John Mutua Katuku",
"slug": "mutua-katuku"
},
"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if the Treasury could collect more revenue, I would be the first one to push for the extension of the Free Primary Education Programme to the secondary school level, so that everybody who qualifies can access secondary education. If our resources could allow, I would be among those who would support the re-introduction of Government subsidy in secondary education to the tune of, least, 50 per cent of the total cost. However, since we have to construct the infrastructure in schools as well as meet other demands in other sectors, like in my Ministry, which needs enough money to provide Kenyans with adequate water, it is only fair that we work together as Kenyans to ensure that we improve revenue collection so that we can avail more funds to the Ministry of Education, to enable it provide more resources to secondary schools. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I commend the Minister and his team for successfully implementing the Free Primary Education Programme, I would want to urge him to put in place more stringent measures to ensure that they root out corruption, which is now permeating in the Ministry through its audit department. Auditors move around to inspect primary and secondary schools. However, the whole process ends up being a routine exercise during which some headteachers who may not have kept their records well hand over envelopes to the auditors. So, instead of the audit exercise being done fairly, headteachers end up compromising some of the auditors. Therefore, the Minister and his team must ensure that thorough audit is done in schools, even if it means sending independent teams to cross-check what has been certified as audited funds, because some headteachers are using the money without involving the school committees. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to take this opportunity to urge members of the public, especially those who have been given the responsibility of heading school committees at both the primary and secondary schools, to take time to find out what monies go to their respective schools, what those monies are being spent on, how they are being spent, and establish whether any given expenditure has been prioritised by their committees. I am making this appeal because I have noted that in some schools, there is a lot of development, while in others there is hardly anything to show for the monies that have been shown to have been spent. You will find that a certain school has used its money to renovate classrooms and toilets but if you visit another school in the same neighbourhood, you will find that nothing is happening despite the fact that the two schools get the same amount of money. This has to do with mismanagement. Some of the headteachers are not doing their best. Some school board chairpersons and PTA members are also not playing their roles well. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, another issue I would like to raise, which the Minister may have to look at, is that of appointment of members of the boards to our learning institutions, be they secondary schools or tertiary institutions. We must look at quality when it comes to appointment of managers of those institutions. The Minister cannot be able to be everywhere to ensure that the institutions are properly managed. In cases where institutions are sponsored by, say, a church, the sponsor may nominate low-calibre nominees to the boards and yet that same board may be charged with very big responsibilities, including ensuring discipline. Consequently, some boards leave everything in the hands of headteachers, who at times even expel children from the institutions illegally. Therefore, we should ensure that institutions of learning in this country are managed by competent members of boards of governors capable of articulating the interests of parents and those of the Government in the management of schools. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am also concerned with the issue of teachers being 3032 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 18, 2006 in one station forever. I am talking about a situation where a teacher is posted to a school as the headteacher, and he serves at that same station until his retirement. I believe that the Ministry has a policy of transferring teachers after serving at given stations for a certain period of time. Even if one's record at any given station is very good, after some time, he should be transferred elsewhere, so that he can improve the performance of another school. I do not want to believe that a headteacher who is doing well at a certain school cannot do the same elsewhere. There are headteachers who have served at the same stations for many years. They have made those institutions look like their own. At times, some institutions have their names changed. Rather than them being referred to by their names, they are referred to by the name of the headteacher or the principal. Therefore, I would like to urge my colleague to ensure that headteachers, and other teachers, who have served at the same school for so long are transferred. I remember a case at one of the institutions I taught as an Untrained Teacher when I completed Sixth Form. That was many years ago. I passed by the school the other day and found some of my former colleagues still teaching there. I asked one of them: \"Did you go to teach elsewhere and come back or what happened?\" He replied: \"I am still here.\" Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, such teachers become useless to the institution. The community and the children get used to them. They get used to the institution so much that they do not even prepare for lessons. They just walk into classes and start teaching. Of course, the standard of education of such schools falls. So, we need to rotate teachers. Even if a teacher is doing well at a given school, it is fair to give him a chance to serve in another region. There should be a way of ensuring that the performance of teachers improves. Another issue I would like to comment on, even though I appreciate the fact that we have budgetary constraints, is that of pre-primary education. Provision of pre-primary education to children has become challenging to some disadvantaged families, which cannot afford the fees. I am sure that most of my colleagues will agree with me that, subject to availability of resources, we should ensure that the Government pays nursery school teachers because this is a very basic and essential level of education. Unfortunately, majority of Kenyans rejected the Draft Constitution, not because they knew what they were doing but, rather, because they were misled by some of my good friends on the Opposition side. They knew very well that pre-primary education was being entrenched into the Constitution, together with the issue of nursery school teachers being paid by the Government. Be that as it may, I would like the Minister to consider that aspect when he gets sufficient resources, so that children at the nursery school level can also get good education and their teachers get well paid. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would also like to comment on the issue of hardship allowance, which is being earned by teachers in some areas, and not in others. I have talked to the Minister many times on this issue. I would like to remind him that my constituency is in the same neighbourhood with divisions where teachers earn hardship allowance. However, teachers in my constituency are not paid hardship allowance. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am talking about Mwala and Yathui Divisions in Machakos District. The two divisions were left out and teachers are not paid hardship allowance. In Katangi and Kalawa Divisions, which neighbour my division, teachers are paid hardship allowance. As a result, teachers tend to look for transfers to the neighbouring constituencies where they are paid a hardship allowance. This policy needs to be looked into. Before the Minister looks at the policy at the national level, I would like to appeal to him to consider Mwala Division specifically. With those few remarks, I beg to second. October 18, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3033"
}