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{
    "id": 391740,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/391740/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 289,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "immediately you dropped them, there was an amount of sand at the school. Before you turned your car, these children who were so clean by the time they were being taken to school, were already rolling out there in the sand. They were so dirty and we never found them studying anything. We just found them there playing in the sand, running around and all that. So, we went and asked the principal, a very great lady called Mrs. Desanjo, why she was wasting our children’s time and she gave us a lecture which I have never forgotten. She told us that the children were learning more by playing there in the sand and running around, getting to know each other than being in class. She told us that life is not just a game of numbers and letters, but is much more complex. That, indeed, it is not the number ones in school or the very fast who really make it in life; those book worms who become number one in school are sometimes losers in life. That life is about learning how to take the ball from the other one and passing it on to others. It is a game of winning and losing. Therefore, children must learn from a very early age how to hustle, how to win, how to lose and handle their emotions of losing the ball or being knocked down by others. The Senate Majority Leader is also saying that children should also learn how to win and lose elections. This is part of it. You have to internalize emotions from a very early stage because life is not all about happiness, it is also about sadness and proper training should equip children on how to be happy when it is time to be happy and how to manage sorrow and grief when that time comes. So, this is what early education is all about. But she said: “Do not worry, all these children will go to the schools you want, but they only need one term. Once they know how to connect colours, the letters and the numbers, they will pick the rest very quickly. True to form, they did. The children I am talking about now are people with Masters Degrees. So, I really take my hat off to that lady because she understood what she was doing. The focus on building character and a positive culture in our children is missing in many of our institutions. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, right now, it is true we are supporting the laptop project and all that, but these are just gadgets which are keeping our children very busy. For example, take computer games and mobile games; you will even find three year old or two year old children have taken off with your phone and they are playing games which you did not know were there in the first place. But life cannot also just be about gadgets and how to handle them. Life is also about values; what do you apply those gadgets for? You could be a brilliant Scientist like Openheimer and apply your brains in developing atomic bombs to come and finish our society. So, we have to balance our education so that some time is spend on building character and values in our children. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, even as we talk about standardization, I would like to differ a little. The children from Meru have to learn Kimeru in pre-primary. The old days when we could spend our evenings listening to stories from grandmothers are gone. Our children are being taught stories from televisions. They are learning about American issues like Cinderella, Halloween and so on. These are meaningless things in our society. We have to introduce our own language and culture to our children at a very early age. I am usually embarrassed to meet children who cannot greet their grandmothers when they visit them and yet they bear Kimeru names. They are just Meru by name. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}