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{
    "id": 400928,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/400928/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 228,
    "type": "other",
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    "content": "Committees as possible to go out there and interact with our people from where they live so that we can make recommendations that are realistic and that are in tandem with the aspirations of the people we respresent. Madam Temporary Speaker, ECD is the most important part of the education system. Therefore, we need to face the reality. I am grateful that the Committee has addressed that issue here. The state of the education system now in the ECD is not so good. This means that we are not assured that we can have dependable citizens 20, 30 or 40 years from now. Examples have been given of how other countries take ECD seriously. The time has come for us to review, number one, the curriculum that we have to develop for our children because unlike in the past, many places now in the country have ECD classes. But I am afraid that we are teaching our children complicated mathematical, scientific and other sophisticated knowledge areas at the expense of building patriotism and good citizenship. This is where we are going wrong. I think all the years that our children spend in ECD are wasted. Initially I thought that, perhaps, children should stay at home a little more, but having listened to the contributions made to the previous report by some of my colleagues a little longer, including the Senator for Meru County, I am now of the opinion that, actually, we should take our children early enough to school. But not to read mathematics, physics, geography and science, but to play, sing and to read; especially to play about Kenya; to sing about Kenya and to network, so that they can form a formidable mass of future citizens of this country. Madam Temporary Speaker, the issue of curriculum is extremely important and we should spend the early years of our children’s lives trying to impart the skills that we so desire as a nation. That is why, for example, a project like the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) has flopped in this country. We are thinking that we can now sit people who are 50 or 60 years old down and try to teach them how to interact with other communities and be united in their diversity. These are people who have already imbibed certain values. It is very difficult to change them. But with little children, you can change them very easily. Let us teach them about other communities and the need to live as a united nation. We should teach them that we have many other communities in Kenya. This country depends on a united citizenry. Madam Temporary Speaker, it is appalling. I have seen in this report that the ECD is the worst in terms of infrastructure. You will find a school that has either a brick or a stone building for a classroom, most likely, the ECD classroom will be a mud structure which is grass-thatched. You are supposed to take care of the more delicate children and those are the ones undergoing the ECD. I also want to talk very briefly about the facilities and state of our village polytechnics. I agree with those who have spoken that these institutions should be called something else other than village polytechnics. Secondly, the curriculum that is taught in the institutions is archaic and old fashioned. I do not remember the last time it was reviewed. We are teaching skills that are not consistent with modern times. I see no reason, for example, we should not be teaching internet skills or newer skills that surveyors are using now apart from using ropes and pillars. I am told that they have now 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"
}