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{
    "id": 332065,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/332065/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 418,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Muriithi",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Industrialisation",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 91,
        "legal_name": "Ndiritu Muriithi",
        "slug": "ndiritu-muriithi"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, I stand to support this Bill and I also congratulate the Minister for this excellent work. In examining the history of this country, education has been and perhaps continues to be the number one filter that is used to stratify society in various ways. If you were to look at the number of children in Class 8 and then compare that to those who make it to Form Four and then compare that to those who get to university, you would see a very sharp pyramid. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in colonial times, in my reading of history, it was never intended that many of us Africans should rise to the top of the social apex. In those old days, access to university in my view had been restricted. Therefore, there is this move to standardize the management of the universities. There have been calls that we provide a university in every county. I support these calls because education is the only certain way of transforming society. All of us hon. Members would not have been here if it were not for education. Therefore, we must aspire to get the highest possible level of education for our people. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to point to two specific improvements on university objectives. We all know universities are agents of social change in our society. So, I would like to see a specific objective directing or encouraging universities to have an outreach or extension like in many other universities in the world. If you look at the role of Silicon Valley and the Stanford University and other institutions play in development of their country, is lacking in our universities. For example, a university in Maralal must specialize in the management of rangelands. A university in rural Laikipia, for example, must come up with programmes aimed at improving farming. It must help us to train agricultural extension officers in order for us to improve our produce. I urge each university to establish an extension department. For example, ICT is a key component for the development of this country. We should see many universities providing specialization in software development, in writing applications for mobile phones or for any smart gadget that may come about. So, before a university is granted a charter, it must state which area it will specialize in. It is important to encourage universities to specialize in specific fields if we want to develop this country. Another area of concern is engineering. Today we have an estimated 6,000 engineers in the country. About half of them are registered with the Engineers"
}