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{
    "id": 400930,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/400930/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 230,
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    "content": "moved to digital and more competitive systems. So, the curriculum must be reviewed. The facilities are in disarray. Right now, tertiary institutions, village polytechnics and institutes of technology stand a risk of collapsing because of the clamour for degrees and university education. I am a firm believer of university education. I am a professor and I know, first and foremost, that I have a lot of loyalty to university education. However, in terms of moving our country forward; a country that does not have skilled middle level technical manpower is headed nowhere. In fact, most of the economic problems are solved by technicians and artisans. These are diploma holders and other lower certificates. They are not solved by professors like me, Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo, Sen. (Prof.) Lesan and Sen. Kipchumba who is almost a becoming a professor. What we need is to ensure that we have enough artisans who can solve the economic problems we have in this country. As I wind up, now that the issue of village polytechnics has been devolved, now that ECD is also devolved, these two areas require legislation from this Senate. That is how we will make a mark. Everybody out there is waiting to see what we will do, as the Senate, to improve the things that fall within our mandate. This is an area where we require urgent legislative proposals. I am told that there is a Bill which is now before the Lower House concerning the ECD. There is need for our committee to, perhaps, interact with that committee and form consensus. However, in any case, since what is in the Lower House is an amendment Bill, we require a fresh ECD Bill that this Senate can pass and make sure that our country can have modern ECD systems that can put us in the next level of development. Similarly, I believe that in the area of village polytechnics, there is also need for legislative interventions. I am very impressed by the quality of this report and the methodology they used to arrive at these findings because they did not just sit here in Nairobi to come up with recommendations. However, the gap that I see in this report and, perhaps, other reports in future is that since we are a lawmaking institution, every time we look at challenges, it is not enough to come up with policy suggestions. We should also come up with legislative proposals which should tell us that to fix the problems, this is the kind of legislation we need. It will not be fair if I terminate my remarks without saying that the Jubilee Government is committed to making sure that the standards of ECD and those of institutes of technology and village polytechnics are improved because we believe these two areas are important for taking our country to the next level of development. Thank you, I support."
}