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{
    "id": 331645,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/331645/?format=api",
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    "content": "niece, who did exceptionally well in sciences, which is a rarity for girls. She wanted to do medicine. She got a straight “A” and “A” in all the sciences but she cannot get any single course she applied for. It is embarrassing. How can you have girls passing sciences and we know that finding girls who are excelling in sciences is not very common, and yet they cannot get courses to do? Indeed, the father told me the other day that he does not understand that he could encourage his daughter to do so well so that she could struggle to look for university just like any other person who failed. So, why do they go to university? Why can she not just remain in Suba fishing, if she can get an “A” and start looking for a course that she can qualify for in fishing? She does not need a university degree; she could have gone straight for fishing. But if you want to encourage our women, I know I was a very good student of mathematics, perhaps, I was the only one who passed mathematics in my class because girls were not encouraged and they did not do well in mathematics. But if you have a girl who has got a straight “A” in physics, chemistry and all the sciences, why would she be given a course she did not apply for? I have the opportunity to raise it with the Minister, but there are other girls who cannot. They would be doomed even though they worked hard. So, the next thing I do is a lot of mentorship for girls. The next time I go to girls and tell them “work hard because you have opportunities”, they will ask, “opportunities for what?” We are killing the spirit of our girls. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would also want to see a specialized scholarship fund being set up and linked with the Equalization Fund especially for persons from marginalized areas. Just the other day between me and the Minister we looked for one woman who is qualified, a lawyer from Suba, who was qualified for certain things, but we could not get. I think we are only four. So, really, unless we do aggressive affirmative action, for some of us, we would be doomed for eternity. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to also indicate that the university must also provide fairness in fees, especially with the parallel system. Again, I will give an example, I want to give very loud examples. I know that many university students now go for parallel systems and some of them really struggle to pay the fees and because sometimes they are out they are not able to pay the fees. They are then forced to repeat a year because they were not able to pay the fees in time. If you are doing medicine, the fees is Kshs1 million and above a year and if you struggle as a parent and you are not able to meet the fees in time, why do you have to repeat a year so that you can still go ahead and look for another million? Why are we making university education a cat and mouse chase between the university and parents who are basically struggling to get their children education? We must provide very clear standards even for parallel universities. I want to laud the Minister for the promotion of gender balance and equality among students and employees. But again, as I have indicated it is provided as a principle. Even the issue of institutionalizing non-discriminatory practices, the way you mainstream issues is not just by providing a principle but by providing very concrete steps on how that is done. I am going to propose amendment that will give us very clear ways in which we would do that. I would also indicate one of the comments that I want to provide in relation to this Bill----"
}