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"id": 297909,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/297909/?format=api",
"text_counter": 272,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Wetangula",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Trade",
"speaker": {
"id": 210,
"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
"slug": "moses-wetangula"
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"content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, Article 30 talks of removal from the register. I want to propose that we expand the provisions so that teachers who have been removed from the register for aggravated offences like molestation of school children and other felonies should not be given an opportunity even to teach in private schools because what does happen is that you will find a teacher is removed from the register from teaching in a public school and the next morning he is in a private school and some of them go on to do the same same things for which they have been removed from the register. Indeed, I would want to see the Bill expanding its provisions so that a teacher on the register means and includes a teacher teaching in any school in this country – whether public or private. This is the only way we can standardize. This is the only way we can institutionalize good conduct among our teaching fraternity. Mr. Speaker, Sir, Article 31 talks of reinstatement to the register. First of all, I would suggest that when a teacher’s name is removed from the register, publishing it in the Kenya Gazette is not enough because people hardly read the Kenya Gazette . The TSC should publish the names of teachers removed together with the offences for which they are being removed in the dailies for all and sundry to know – what we would ordinarily call name and shame. This is so that if somebody is a child molester, he or she should not be given an opportunity to run from one county to another to hide and continue with the same activities and if it is published widely, our children will be safe. Mr. Speaker, Sir, on the question of reinstatement to the register, my suggestion to the Minister is that depending on the gravity of the offence, there should be a prescribed period of suspension so that if a teacher is suspended for 18 months or two year, at the end of the suspension period, the return to the register should be automatic unless there are other aggravating circumstances because you should not be exposed to double jeopardy. To be removed from the register means that you have no employment at that period and if the Minister takes into account what I am saying, it means that you cannot teach in either private or public schools and at the end of your suspension period you should be able to go back to the register and take back your job unless, of course, the suspension is such that you should never be able to return back to the register depending on the offence for which you have been found guilty. Offences such as molestation of children and sexual offences should render a person unqualified at any other time in their life time to go back to the register as a teacher. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also have a bit of difficulty with that clause, in that, where the Commission is being given unfettered authority on their motion to return a teacher to the register, this is likely to be abused. So, we need some caution. Like I have said, the suspension period should be defined clearly and if it is not defined, then a process must be undertaken so that the return to the register is through due process. Article 34 is not quite clear on where a teacher is suspended for a period not exceeding 18 months, whether that suspension will be with or without pay. I think we need to make it clear so that people know where their rights stretch up to. Mr. Speaker, Sir, on Article 35 which deals with the issue of teaching standards, I agree that we need continuous improvement of standards. We need to encourage our teachers to improve their lot intellectually by going for refresher courses which should be properly tailored to guide them in their subjects but we must also be a little careful in encouraging this. In my view, teachers should be encouraged to go for their refresher courses and those who are taking studies to do so during holidays so that the time we expect them to be teaching our children is not compromised and conflicted with the time the teachers themselves are also doing their studies. This is because teaching a class of 40 or 45 children is a full time engagement and the Ministry and the TSC should avail time during holidays and encourage teachers. They should even avail them loans through the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) to pay for their fees so that they can continue improving their lot not at the expense of the children but as a compliment to what they are doing for the children that they teach. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also want to encourage that such centres of improvement be available in every county, so that they are not just found in Nairobi or Mombasa or in the big cities. Each county should have a centre for continuous improvement of teachers’ skills and standards, to offer an opportunity for them to improve their lot. Article 35(3) of the Bill sets a penalty for a teacher who does not undertake a prescribed career or professional development programme. This is unnecessary. If we make it available for them, we do not have to punish them. Those who stagnate in their positions should simply not be considered for promotion, rather than saying that we will terminate their services. There are some teachers who, after qualifying, feel satisfied with what they are doing, and they want to remain so. So, this particular provision is not necessary. Mr. Speaker, Sir, as I come to my conclusion, I want to urge that, as we revamp the constitutionally-provided TSC, the Ministry of Education should look very seriously, working in conjunction with the Treasury, into recruitment of more teachers in the country. If you go to some schools, including some in my own constituency, you will find a school with four streams, and with a total 1,000 pupils, with only five or six TSC teachers. So, you find children from urban schools doing a lot better than children from rural schools at the end of each year, because urban schools attract more teachers. The TSC posts more teachers to urban schools. Teachers posted to rural schools, especially in areas that are described as “hardship” just get there and run away, and the children are left without anybody to care for them. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the teacher to student ratio must be addressed urgently. We know how many teachers are required for every stream, and how many teachers are required in every school. Therefore, I want to urge this House to provide enough resources to the Ministry of Education and, by extension, to the TSC; to recruit as many teachers as we possibly can to meet the quotas. It is not that we do not have trained teachers. We have a lot of trained teachers. Some of them are, in fact, leaving the country. The new Republic of Southern Sudan, and our good neighbour, already boasts of over 15,000 Kenyan teachers who are teaching there simply because we cannot employ them in Kenya yet we have schools that do not have teachers. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to urge the Minister, because I know that my learned friend is a go-getter; to encourage and engage the Ministry of Finance in this financial year, so that we can, at least, recruit a minimum of the 60,000 teachers that the KNUT is crying for, so that we can make our schools better. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}