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"id": 238807,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/238807/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Nyachae",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Roads and Public Works",
"speaker": {
"id": 342,
"legal_name": "Simeon Nyachae",
"slug": "simeon-nyachae"
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, having said all that, I want to put across a few requests. One of the things that I would like to be looked into is the question of housing for teachers. I think a policy should be developed. I do not know whether I should be asking the Government or the parents. But I find it very difficult to be convinced that you can post a teacher to a school and expect him to do well, when the environment, itself, is very difficult for the teacher. He has no house in that school! I come from an area where very many teachers have no houses. There is no policy to require even October 18, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3039 the parents to put up houses before a teacher is posted to their school. I think we should insist that parents should play that role. That is because to expect a teacher to stay behind a shop in a market place and walk for three kilometres every day to a school and back is not fair! When is he going to prepare for tomorrow's work, when he has walked for three kilometres? When he gets there, he is tired. Perhaps, even where he stays in that market place, there is a bar disturbing him the whole night. Can you expect him to be a good teacher the following day? It is not fair. We should insist that schools must have houses for teachers. That is something we must insist on. Even if we say that the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) should be used to make some contribution to build teachers houses, it is a priority. I say that because the Ministry does not send teachers who are not qualified to schools that do not do well, and send qualified teachers to schools that do well. All the teachers are trained in the same colleges. Why are certain schools not doing well? It is because of the environment, in my view. The second request that I would like to put across is this: The Ministry should now insist and lay down qualifications for school committee members. In some places, we have members who are almost illiterate and cannot understand what the teachers want. They cannot even understand what the children are doing in schools. So, they cannot support any system of management in that school. But since they are known by the elders around there, they are appointed to the committee. The same applies to the sponsors. The sponsors must be told that they cannot just nominate somebody because he is a good person in their church. Sponsors can nominate, but they must be required to nominate people with certain minimum qualifications. That way, we will not have people who just go to church on sundays and, thereafter, the sponsor nominates them because they are good in prayers. That is a different matter when it comes to education. I think that is extremely important. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the third request that I would like to make is this: Let us not concentrate teachers in their home areas. That has been the biggest problem for education officers. If he or she transfers a teacher from his or her home area, all the elders and parents say: \"You are taking away our son and bringing us another person from another place and clan. We do not know him!\" I, personally, insist that I do not want anybody to come to me and complain that a teacher has been brought from another area into my constituency. What I want is a teacher to teach and bring good results. Where he comes from, whether it is North Eastern Province - where I understand they do not have many - or any other place, I do not care. But I want a teacher who can assist the children to get a good education, I do not care where he comes from. But to have my clansmen staying in my place just because the elders want them to be there is unfair to the children. At the end of the day, it is the children who suffer, while the clansmen are happy to see their son around. They drink together in the evening because they know one another. That is something that must not be allowed. Teachers must be transferred to where the educationists think there is a need. Nobody should obstruct them. I know that, that is being done, even by ourselves - as politicians. That is because we want votes. The elders or voters come to you and say: \"Our son is being moved! Why can you not go and protest?\" They go to the education officer and say: \"I do not want so and so to be transferred.\" Let us also think about the future of our children. Do not think about the well-being of that friend of yours who is in the village, because he is going to vote for you. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the fourth request that I would like to make is this: The Ministry should give due recognition to education officers. When I was young and in school, the education officer was a very strong person. Even when he visited a school, everybody knew that the \"authority\" is around. When he visited a school, somehow, everyone knew that a person of authority was around. However, nowadays, an education officer is treated like anyone else and teachers do not even refer to him as \"sir\". I think if I were an education officer today, I would insist that you refer to me as \"sir.\" 3040 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 18, 2006 Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to support."
}