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{
    "id": 39759,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/39759/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 385,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Prof. Olweny",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Education",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 122,
        "legal_name": "Patrick Ayiecho Olweny",
        "slug": "patrick-olweny"
    },
    "content": "The Ministry of education’s efforts to provide access to education at all levels is guided by Sessional Paper No.1 of 2005 on a policy framework for education, training and research which runs up to the year 2011, that is, up to the end of this year. The spirit and the intent of the policy is to achieve education for all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) related to education by 2015. The Sessional Paper’s main focus and the thrust is to expand access to and improve quality of education, ensuring equity and relevance, retention and completion. To operationalize the Sessional Paper, my Ministry has designed courses and launched Phase I of the Kenya Educational Sector Support Programme (KESSP). The target of that progamme has been to attain universal primary education and education for all by 2015, achievement of the transition rates over 70 per cent from primary to secondary education levels, enhance access, equity and quality in primary and secondary education, construct and renovate physical facilities, equip public institutions, particularly, in the disadvantaged areas like ASALs and also achieve 50 per cent improvement on the levels of adult literacy by the end of last year. We have achieved that. My Ministry views basic education as the minimum education package appropriate for the citizens of this country in line with the current global thinking and the new Constitution. This encompasses early childhood education, primary education and secondary. The Ministry has had various interventions to date. They include free primary and secondary education support, strengthening of capacity building for teachers and officers, especially through strengthening mathematics and science based programmes like SSMASE, providing support to the ASALs, policy on nomadic education, policy on alternative provision of basic education and training, gender policy education, policy on special needs education, policy on early childhood education and also policy on technical, industrial and vocational education and training. That actually touches on the amended form of this Motion. With all those interventions, we have achieved the following. The Early Childhood Education (ECD) level of enrolment has increased from 1,643,646 in the year 2005 to 1,691,093. The primary school enrolment has increased from 5.9 million to 8.6 million. That has been achieved through all those efforts. This is just to show Members that we have really increased on the access. The secondary school enrolment has increased from 0.2 million to 1.6 million. The transition rate - and that is your concern here - has increased from 42.7 per cent to 66.8 per cent by the year 2000. It is now touching on 70 per cent, which was our target. The enrolment for special needs has increased from 91,970 to 221,995. Adult literacy has improved from 30 per cent to 61.5 per cent. That shows that the Ministry is doing very well with regard to education for all and universal primary education. So, the provision of basic education, as we all know, is a major task. We have several challenges which, because of the amended form of the Motion I do not need to get involved in. Otherwise, I was going to tell the House how much it would have involved if we abolished KCPE. However, all the same, if everybody has to move into secondary from primary, it would involve massive amounts of resources which, at this time, my Ministry does not have. That is the truth. It is the fact of the matter. For example, if all the children were to transit from primary into secondary, there would be financial implications. The amended form of this Motion entails that everybody should go forward. However, in addition to the current budget, what the Ministry would need is Kshs438 billion. Today, our budget from the Treasury is Kshs138 billion. Nobody can give us that money. This House has been sitting every year, but we have never been given such an amount. Even money for hiring additional teachers has not been given to us. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Ministry has also put in place alternatives to secondary school education. Those alternatives are for those who do not manage to join secondary school from Class VIII. There is provision of primary, industrial, technical, vocational and entrepreneurship training that promotes livelong education and training for self reliance. That has been put in place by the Ministry. The Ministry has also provided alternative paths for tertiary graduates to access higher education and training up to the degree level. There is also an ongoing programme aimed at mobilizing resources to rehabilitate all the institutions. That is from youth polytechnics to national polytechnics. The Government also encourages public universities to offer parallel degree programmes for learners who may not have got direct entry into universities. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, at the moment, the Ministry has established a taskforce to collect views from the citizens of this country. They should give us their suggestions on how we can reform the education sector. I encourage the Members of this House to mobilize their constituents to give views to the taskforce and provide the way forward on how we can reform the education sector, minimize the use of resources and, at the same time, improve on the quality of education, access, retention and transition of our children in various institutions. I wish to urge hon. Members that even though the Motion is in an amended form, we should put it aside, so as to allow the Ministry to go ahead with the reforms that are already set."
}