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"id": 39686,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Gitari",
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"legal_name": "Joseph Gachoki Gitari",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I rise to second the Motion. From the statistics, when free primary education was introduced in 2003 approximately 1.2 million pupils were enrolled. Last year, when they sat for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), the pupils who were admitted to Form One were a total of 456,000. This means that about 700,000 were not admitted. Out of the 700,000, not more than 30 per cent were enrolled in the polytechnics. Our Constitution states that people should have basic education. The universal definition of universal education is 12 years. Here, we are talking about Standard One to Form Four. I am looking at our education system. I appreciate the fact that, at the university level, the exams done are continuous. So, if we can replace the KCPE with continuous assessment tests, I believe that will assist this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to appreciate the fact that pupils attain the age of 13 years when they are in Standard Eight. Their minds have not really grown. So, if they drop out at Standard Eight, they are not mature enough. They fall prey to a number of things. I want to believe that a Form Four leaver is more informed than a Standard Eight leaver on issues like cleanliness, use of condoms and mosquito nets, among others. At the age of 13, there is nothing much they can do. They cannot get national identification cards. So, nobody can employ them. Within those five years, they can be manipulated to join some illegal groupings. They can also be made to engage in other funny businesses before they attain the age of 18 years. By the time they are attaining 18 years, they are confused. Nobody can take them serious because they would have engaged themselves in illicit practices. In many places, especially where I come from, the boda boda business is growing at an alarming rate. It is alarming because when these pupils drop from Standard Eight, they join this business. I want to imagine that even those people who are engaged in this business, the Form Four leavers are doing better than those who never went beyond Standard Eight. I am support this Motion because I want to encourage many pupils to join Form One. It is important for them to complete Form Four. As I speak now, there are about 9 million pupils in primary schools. If we take the statistics that about 60 per cent of them will not join secondary schools, what are we saying? We will have 5.4 million dropouts after Standard Eight. Out of the 5.4 million, not more than 2 million will be absorbed in the polytechnics. So, we will have not less than 3.4 million pupils waiting to attain the age of 18 years, so that they can be given their identity cards and start looking for jobs. Looking at a population of about 5.4 million is a worrying number. So, I stand to second this Motion. The system of our education, especially in our universities, is that it does not encourage final examination. Students in the universities are assessed according to continuous assessment tests. These tests are working very well. So, I believe that if this one is taken to a primary school such that instead of them doing the KCPE, they are assessed on continuous assessment tests. We appreciate that at the age of 13 years, girls start maturing. They reach their puberty. So, when they sit for their examinations sometimes they are not comfort. It is unfair for us to condemn them as failures just because they were not comfortable when they were doing examination in that particular week when they were experiencing their monthly periods. It is wrong because our education system is exam-oriented. We need to pass this Motion. However, I want to agree that it cannot just be implemented because it requires some time so that systems can be put in place."
}