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{
"id": 339309,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/339309/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mrs. Odhiambo-Mabona",
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"speaker": {
"id": 376,
"legal_name": "Millie Grace Akoth Odhiambo Mabona",
"slug": "millie-odhiambo-mabona"
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support the Bill and congratulate the CORD Minister for being very hard working. Indeed, he has brought many Bills before this House even though they make us work late in the night. I want to congratulate him and also encourage the Minister for Finance to be informed what Jubilee is about and not to be copycats without knowing what it means. Jubilee is a year of deliverance. So, for those of us who have been oppressed, you are actually just telling us that you will be delivering us. So, we are happy with that name which you stole from us because it means you are endorsing us. Having said that, I just want to give one brief comment. I want to thank the Minister because curriculum development is about setting standards. I have been harping on the issue of setting standards. I believe in standards especially educational standards. Our educational standards have been falling very dismally. Therefore, I am happy that we will regulate curriculum development save that I would want to urge the Minister to remember that in The Basic Education Bill that we have just passed, we have done away with the provision for different mediums of instructions for different schools. This, therefore, means that even in curriculum development, you cannot say that in urban, peri- urban or rural areas you have different languages as a medium of instruction. So, a child who goes to school in Suba, the medium of instruction will be the same language as that of a child in Nairobi by the amendment we passed. So, if the medium of instruction in Nairobi is English, it will be the same for the child in Mfangano. However, I would, therefore, suggest that one of the provisions or functions that we should add for the institute is curriculum development for indigenous languages. Where there is a student who would want to be taught a specific language, for example, if I want to learn Suba, Kuria or Maasai, then there must be a specific curriculum because it will no longer be a medium of instruction. If I want to learn Luo, it has to be provided. There must be a curriculum set specifically for it. I would also want to encourage the Departmental Committee on Education, Research and Technology that following the other amendments that we have done, where we have done away with non-formal education, I guess that should apply here as well. I will also urge the Minister to think through the issue of seeking to devolve progressively to counties. Even though I moved an amendment that set up universities in every county, I am not too sure. This is a standard setting body which is a policy body. I am not too sure whether it really serves any purpose if you devolve its functions to counties. Then you will be talking about setting different standards for different counties, which I do not think is what we are saying. As a policy body, it should be a national body. If they want to do or perform tasks, it should be within the national framework. So, I am not persuaded that we should devolve them whether progressively or at once. They should be a national body. With those few remarks, I beg to support and also thank the Minister for setting up all these different panels including a monitoring and evaluation panel which ensures continuity in terms of standards. I beg to support."
}